Nature Communications

Three Vanderbilt faculty members are diving into a "chicken-and-egg" problem of type 2 diabetes: Does the disease change beta-cell subtypes? Or do changes in the cells cause diabetes? Guoqiang Gu, Emily Hodges and Ken Lau have come up with a new method of studying the subtypes that can track them through different stages instead of just once when they're fully developed. "Thanks to this and other research, it may be possible to one day create a diet supplement for pregnancy that could reduce the risk of diabetes for babies," Gu said. Read More

In a scientific first, researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of California, San Diego, have generated a high-resolution metabolic “map” of how cells orchestrate glucose processing, revealing a hidden world where organelles and molecular complexes collaborate when responding to a rush of nutrients. This new study, published in Nature Communications, has redefined how glucose metabolism is visualized at the single-cell level. Read More

The laboratory of Ege Kavalali, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, published a new paper in Nature Communications that determined that liquid-liquid phase separation plays a key role within the nanostructure of synapses, and that its disruption affects evoked but not spontaneous neurotransmission. Read More

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the first time have shown that activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is essential for the development of kidney fibrosis, tissue scarring following injury that can lead to kidney failure. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers detail the landscape of RNA editing — a form of RNA modification — in primary effusion lymphoma cells during Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection and identify an edited viral microRNA that is critical for infection. Read More

The transport of water molecules through nanoscale pores is central to a number of processes like water treatment, biological membranes, ionic/molecular separations, water treatment and protective applications, but the mechanisms of transport are not fully understood. Piran Kidambi, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Vanderbilt, and a team of researchers recently had a... Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have created single-atom thick membranes with pores that allow for transport of water molecules but block even the smallest of salt ions and small molecules. The findings were published in Nature Communications on November 7, 2022, and could hold implications for developing advanced materials that protect against threats such as biological and chemical... Read More

A new model suggests that a protein involved in the generation of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) works differently than previously thought. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon. Read More

A cellular RNA quality control mechanism was known to restrict replication of RNA viruses. Vanderbilt researchers have discovered it is also antiviral against DNA viruses. Read More