Infection

An international consortium co-led by Vanderbilt's Rubén Martínez-Barricarte has discovered a new genetic disorder that causes immunodeficiency and profound susceptibility to opportunistic infections including a life-threatening fungal pneumonia.  Read More

A disease-associated mutation in a transporter protein impairs gut barrier function, leading to gastrointestinal disease and chronic infections. Read More

An unprecedented view of bacterial products within infected tissues opens new opportunities to explore infection biology and devise novel therapeutic strategies. Read More

An enzyme called PTEN reduces inflammatory signaling and mortality in sepsis, suggesting it may be a good therapeutic target for this life-threatening complication of infection. Read More

A new probe enables iron imaging in living animals, providing a unique tool for studying iron’s contributions to health and disease. Read More

Too much dietary manganese — an essential trace mineral found in leafy green vegetables, fruits and nuts — promotes infection of the heart by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”). Read More

Vanderbilt investigators are probing the response to a bacterial toxin as a clinical assessment of immune function. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers show that a certain factor negatively impacts the first-line responder cells in the lungs, providing one explanation for why patients with asthma are at greater risk for invasive bacterial disease. Read More

A new animal model can be used to “dissect” the inflammatory response to infection. Read More

Use of opioid analgesics is associated with an increased risk of hospitalization for serious infections among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to a Vanderbilt study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Read More