An Important Milestone in Basic Sciences Support!

For the first time, the Basic Sciences is benefitting from the support of a dedicated group of donors. The Discovery Circle, which includes all who have given $2,500 or more to the Basic Sciences, was honored at a reception on June 20th at the Hutton Hotel. Discovery Circle members enjoyed drinks and refreshments, a brief talk by Larry Marnett, and plenty of good conversation. In a time of funding uncertainty, private philanthropy is playing an increasingly important role in research support.

The Basic Sciences also benefitted from generous donations of $13,200 from the community at-large on Vanderbilt Giving Day! To learn more about the Discovery Circle, or about giving to the Basic Sciences at any level, go to our website.

Newsworthy Accomplishments

Our heartiest congratulations to Joey Barnett (Pharmacology), who was awarded the Louis B. Russell, Jr. Memorial Award from the American Heart Association for “his tireless efforts as an advocate for the career advancement of minority students and trainees in cardiovascular science, and for increased representation of underserved communities among the AHA volunteer base.” (Photo by Tim Sharp: Mark Crowder presents the award to his mentor, Dr. Barnett.) Read more

Kudos to Neil Osheroff, who was honored by the Association of Biochemistry Educators with their 2017 Distinguished Service Award! This award represents appreciation for an individual who has demonstrated either a profound, sustained, or leadership contribution to improving the postdoctoral experience.

Vivian Gama is this year’s Pew-Stewart Scholar nominee from Vanderbilt. Good luck Vivian!

A paper from Fred Guengerich, Martin Egli, and Michael Waterman,“Functional Analysis of Human Cytochrome P450 21A2 Variants Involved in Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia” (J. Biol. Chem., 292:10767) has been named both an Editor’s Pick at the journal and as a special significance paper in F1000Prime!

Ronald Emeson (Pharmacology) has been named the Pharmacology Department’s Teacher of the Year for the third time. Congratulations! Read more

Richard Caprioli (Biochemistry) was featured in a recent issue of Chemical and Engineering News, the trade magazine of the American Chemical Society. The article revealed the rapid adoption of imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), pioneered in the Caprioli lab, by the pharmaceutical industry, marking the beginning of wider applications of the technology. Read more

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine is one of seven founding institutions of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education. The goal of the Institute is to transform medical education with an emphasis on character, competence, and caring. Read more

Student/Postdoc Awards Congratulations

Postdoctoral fellows Caitlin McAtee (Alissa Weaver lab) and Linda Zhang (Sean Davies lab) are both recipients of American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Posdoctoral fellow Lizandra Jimenez (Alissa Weaver lab) has been awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) postdoctoral fellowship from the NIH.

Manuel Castro (Chuck Sanders lab) has received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Service Award (NRSA) predoctoral fellowship from the NIH.

Welcome to the VI4!

Exciting new opportunities for trans-institutional collaboration are coming with the launch of the Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation (VI4). Under Director Eric Skaar and Co-Director Jeremy Rathmell, VI4 unites the Vanderbilt Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, the Vanderbilt Center for Immunobiology, and investigators across the Vanderbilt campus in the pursuit of cutting edge research in the areas of infectious disease and immunology. Read more

Career Stories

Vanderbilt is one of only ten institutions nationwide to have received a Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) award from the NIH. Through this funding, the Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET) Office created its ASPIRE (Augmenting Scholar Preparation and Integration with Research-Related Endeavors) career development program. Since its inception in 2013, ASPIRE has touched the lives of numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows as they pursued a wide range of career goals. To highlight the successes of these students and postdocs, Basically Speaking will be sharing their stories. Our fourth career story features Akshata Udyavar, who used her passion for quantitative biology to launch her career at Genentech. Read Udyavar Career Story

New Discoveries

Exploring New Approaches to Diabetes Treatment

Research from Alvin Powers, Wenbiao Chen, and Roland Stein shows that blocking the action of glucagon could be a novel way to lower blood glucose in diabetics. Read more

Blocking Nuclear Transport in Sepsis

A recent report from Jacek Hawiger and his lab shows the beneficial effects of inhibiting nuclear transport shuttles in a mouse model of polymicrobial sepsis. Read more.

New Imaging Probe to Predict Tumor Response to Therapy

Charles Manning and his lab are exploring the use of a glutamine PET imaging agent to predict the response of tumors bearing mutant BRAF to BRAF-targeted therapy. Read more.

New Funding

Masakazu Shiota (Molecular Physiology & Biophysics), David Cliffel (VICB, Chemistry) and David Wright (VICB, Chemistry) have received 2017 Vanderbilt Discovery Grants. Read more 

Funding Opportunities

NIH Next Generation Researchers Initiative

The Next Generation Research Initiative is a recently launched program intended to bolster the career development of early- and mid-career investigators. The plan is to devote $1.1 billion per year to the program once it is fully implemented. Read more

Sloan Research Fellowships

Up to three faculty members per department may be nominated by Vanderbilt to compete for the two-year 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships, which provide $65,000 over a period of two years. Candidates must hold a tenure-track position with a yearly teaching requirement, and their Ph.D. must have been awarded after Sept. 1, 2011 in one of eight designated research fields. Deadline for the internal competition is July 14, 2017. Read more

Searle Scholars Program

Vanderbilt may nominate up to two faculty members for the 2018 Searle Scholars Program, which supports the research of early-career investigators with grants of $300,000 over three years. Applications for the internal competition are due July 21, 2017. Searle Scholars

Southeastern Conference Visiting Faculty Travel Grant Program

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) offers travel grants to enhance faculty collaborations between member institutions. Applications are being accepted for the 2017-2018 Program. The due date is July 21, 2017. 2017-2018 SEC Announcement

The Concern Foundation’s Conquer Cancer Now Awards Program

The Concern Foundation is accepting letters of intent until September 7, 2017 for its Conquer Cancer Awards that provide $60,000 in funding over a two year period to young, innovative researchers in the fields of cancer genetics, cancer biology, and cancer immunology. Read more

Merck Investigator Studies Program (MISP)

Merck & Co. offers research funding, as well as drugs/vaccines to support research in areas of interest to the company. Pre-proposals (“concepts”) are accepted year-round. For more information, visit the MISP website

NIH Guide E-Mail List

If you have not already done so, you are encouraged to subscribe to the NIH Guide email list. The weekly NIH Guide provides a wealth of information on NIH grant programs, including RFAs for special one-time grant programs.  To subscribe, follow the instructions at this website:

See our newest Basic Sciences faculty interview!