Welcome to the first edition of Basically Speaking, a newsletter devoted to celebrating accomplishments, highlighting opportunities, and communicating upcoming events relevant to the basic science community of the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. Our target audience is faculty, students, staff, and friends.

This is a very exciting time for basic science research at Vanderbilt Medical School. The VU-VUMC reorganization is complete, and with it has come new investments in research and training, including establishment of the Nikon Center of Excellence, continued funding of the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund, and the Chancellor’s Endowment for Graduate Education and Research.

Some terrific new faculty joined our ranks in the basic science and clinical departments of the School of Medicine, bringing fresh ideas and energy to campus. We welcome them all and look forward to many fruitful interactions. Investments in technology have enriched our already enviable assortment of core facilities, and our research funding continues at a high level. Creation at Vanderbilt of the Data and Research Support Core of the NIH-funded Precision Medicine Initiative will greatly enhance an already powerful infrastructure in genetics and genomics, which should enrich our research programs. We anticipate many fundamental advances in our understanding of the molecular basis of disease as well as clinical exploitation of this knowledge.

Our goal is to communicate these accomplishments and the excitement they generate in a simple and informative way. We know everyone is busy, so we’ll try to make the information we provide interesting, useful, and succinct. We welcome your input. Please let us know of newsworthy events, and about colleagues you think should be added to the mailing list. And, of course, we welcome suggestions for improvement.

Larry Marnett, Dean of Basic Sciences

New Investigational Drug for Alzheimer’s Disease to Begin Clinical Trials at Vanderbilt

Congratulations to Jeff Conn, Craig Lindsley, Carrie Jones and the entire team at the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery on the FDA’s approval of their clinical trial for a new investigational drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Taking a neuroscience drug candidate from the discovery phase into early stage clinical trials without partnership with a drug company is an extraordinary accomplishment for an academic center. Read more

Finding Ways to Stimulate Pancreatic Beta Cell Division

Alvin Powers and colleagues report a new method to rapidly screen mitogens for pancreatic beta cells. Read more

Single Cell Analysis of Solid Tumors

Work from the lab of Jonathan Irish paves the way for the use of flow cytometry to explore the diverse nature of individual cells within a tumor. Read more

Preventing Disruption of the Blood Brain Barrier

Jacek Hawiger and his graduate student Lukasz Wylezinski reveal the mechanism by which interleukin 2 immunotherapy disrupts the blood brain barrier, paving the way for new approaches to block this unwanted side effect. Read more

Craig Lindsley Receives ASPET Award

Craig Lindsley, a leader of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s groundbreaking drug discovery program, is the 2017 recipient of the Pharmacia-ASPET Award in Experimental Therapeutics from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). Read more

Moses Elected to National Academy of Inventors

Congratulations to Hal Moses, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and Director Emeritus of the VICC on becoming a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors! Read more

Digestive Disease Research Center Lands Major Grant

The Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Research Center (VDDRC) celebrates its 15th anniversary this year with a third consecutive five-year renewal of its federal research grant. Read more

Associate Deans for the Basic Sciences Appointed

Congratulations to Linda Sealy, newly appointed Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Alyssa Hasty, newly appointed Associate Dean for Faculty Development; and Chuck Sanders, newly appointed Associate Dean for Research! Read more

McCabe Appointed Associate Dean of Graduate School

Clare McCabe, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering will lead the new Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for the Graduate School. Read more

Basic Science Research Advisory Committee Formed

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) has formed a new Basic Science Research Advisory Committee. The committee, which is inclusive across all VUSM departments, will hold quarterly meetings that will serve as a forum for generating ideas and opportunities. Read more

First in Diversity

Vanderbilt ranks No. 1 in training African American Ph.D.s in biological and biomedical sciences. Read more

Places and Spaces Science Data Visualization Exhibit

Be sure to check out the Places and Spaces: Mapping Science Exhibit of innovative ways to visualize complex data at four campus locations, now.