New research shows the nutritive needs of B cells are more flexible than previously thought, which could enable researchers to steer antibody production in the lymph nodes and spleen to better combat autoimmunity. Patients with high-risk diseases of the immune system, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus, could stand to benefit from the research findings. The study led by Mark Boothby, MD, and published in the Journal of Immunology, provides details regarding how murine B cells use different sugars as they mature into antibody-producing cells

A research endeavor that seeks to develop a new cancer immunotherapy utilizing nanobody delivery and targeted heating of tumors has received funding from the Waddell Walker Hancock Cancer Discovery Fund. John Wilson, PhD, and Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD, aim to create a novel therapeutic that will reprogram regulatory T cells, which typically suppress immune responses, into killer T cells with antitumor activity. The key to this reprogramming is the STING signaling pathway, and the force needed to unlock it is fever-relevant temperature — a hypothesis based on recent discoveries from the group on how fevers affect immune responses.

Vanderbilt researchers are working to better design immune therapies that attack tumors without also attacking healthy normal tissue in patients.

Vanderbilt researchers are working to better design immune therapies that attack tumors without also attacking healthy normal tissue in patients.

Vanderbilts James E. Crowe Jr MD and Neil Osheroff PhD are among 12 individuals honored by the Association of American Medical Colleges during its 2023 Awards Recognition Event.

A multidisciplinary team of investigators has received a 2023 Endeavor Award from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research to support four closely linked projects exploring the fundamental mechanisms that drive the obesity-cancer connection, taking advantage of a rich collection of matched tumor and adipose tissue samples from patients.

Research provides insight into how these key proteins support kidney ducts' cellular integrity.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center's James Crowe Jr., MD, has been named to receive the 2024 American Society for Microbiology Award for Applied and Biotechnological Research.

Vanderbilt's James Crowe Jr., MD, was among those to receive 2023 Advocacy Awards from Research!America at the biomedical research advocacy organization's annual awards program in Washington, D.C.