News: Signal Transduction and Chemical Biology Research Program

A recent study reveals how cellular structures called ‘stress granules’ help cells evade death. The findings may lead to new strategies for improving the efficacy of cancer therapy.

A trans-institutional team of researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University has received an $11 million Cancer Moonshot grant to build a single-cell resolution atlas to map out the routes that benign colonic polyps take to progress to colorectal cancer.

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a previously undetected type of histone modification that may have implications for cancer and other conditions.

The Sonic hedgehog protein plays a crucial role in the development of brain cells that may be the source of some types of pediatric brain tumors, a recent study reports.

A recent study on how cellular proteins known as “multidrug transporters” work may inform the development of novel anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs that can overcome resistance.

Many types of cancer cells escape the body’s effort to kill them by overexpressing MCL-1, a protein important for blocking apoptosis, or programmed cell death. A recent study by Vivian Gama, PhD and colleagues indicates that MCL-1 also helps maintain the identity and ability of stem cells to differentiate, or give rise to other kinds of cells. 

Boehringer Ingelheim and Vanderbilt University recently announced the expansion of their successful existing collaboration to develop novel anti-cancer compounds.

Ian Macara, PhD, Louise B. McGavock Professor and Chair of Cell and Developmental Biology and co-leader of the Signal Transduction and Chemical Biology Research Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has been named one of the Pink Tie Guys for the Susan G. Komen Central Tennessee organization.

Carlos F. Lopez, assistant professor of biochemistry and biomedical informatics, has been appointed as Vanderbilt University’s liaison to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory conducting research in energy and security.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are enzymes that modulate gene expression and have important roles in development and disease. HDAC inhibitors are active against lymphoma, and understanding the roles of specific HDACs is important for further therapeutic development. Scott Hiebert, Ph.D., and colleagues used a mouse model to explore the role of HDAC3 in the early development […]