News
Unmasking antagonists: a deep dive into the structural binding poses of PPARγ ligands
Dec. 13, 2024—Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a ligand-regulated transcription factor located in the nucleus. Endogenous ligands, such as lipids and fatty acids, bind an orthosteric pocket in the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of PPARγ and function as agonists to activate gene expression related to adipogenesis and insulin sensitization. Synthetic small molecule ligands, including FDA-approved antidiabetic drugs,...
CSB Research Spotlight: Mchaourab Lab – Describing conformational landscapes of cell membrane transporters
Dec. 6, 2024—PhD student Alexandra Schwartz and Professor Hassane Mchaourab (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in Protein Dynamics) developed a methodological blueprint to describe the structure of cell membrane transporters. Read more to learn how the Spectroscopy and AI method provide a unique window into protein structure and a mechanism of action. Morphing...
CSB Research Spotlight: Ren Lab – Understanding mRNA export
Dec. 5, 2024—A newly determined structure from the lab of Yi Ren reveals information about the mRNA export pathway and suggests that herpes viruses could hijack that interaction to infect their host. The new structures also reveal how certain mutations in the protein complex could play a role in cancers. First author Bradley Clarke and coauthors describe...
Looking in All Directions: Exploring a New Horizon for PCOS Therapeutics
Nov. 14, 2024—This article was originally published in The Protein Society’s November 2024 Under the Microscope newsletter. It is published here by permission of The Protein Society and the author. By Kathryn R. Brewer, PhD Candidate in Biochemistry, Sanders Lab A 20-year-old woman waits to see her gynecologist. For years she has been experiencing troubling symptoms —...
Jenny Tran wins the Dr. Anne Karpay Award in Structural Biology
Nov. 12, 2024—Congratulations to Jenny Tran, of the Breann Brown lab, on being named the 2025 recipient of the Dr. Anne Karpay Award in Structural Biology. “It’s such an honor to be selected as the recipient of the Karpay Award,” Tran said. Although she completed a summer research internship with Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor David G....
MOE November Software Training
Nov. 12, 2024—Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) software users can participate in training sessions focused on Antibody Modeling and Protein Engineering applications. The sessions are held at various dates throughout November and cover topics, including, protein engineering and properties, developability, hot spot analysis, antibody modeling, humanization and molecular surfaces. Mauricio Rodriguez, of Chemical Computing Group, will lead the...
Unlocking the Secrets of Protein Folding
Oct. 18, 2024—It’s often the simplest and most informal of invitations that can open a world of endless possibilities and lifelong relationships. That’s how Professor Jens Meiler’s extraordinary scientific journey began in the lab of Nobel Prize winner David Baker. What has he made of the opportunities presented to him that day? Here is his story. ...
Meiler lab receives funding to advance vaccine research against alphaviruses
Oct. 11, 2024—The Meiler lab is leading a multi-institution team that was awarded up to $46 million in funding to drive groundbreaking vaccine research from ARPA-H‘s Antigens Predicted for Broad Viral Efficacy through Computational Experimentation (APECx) program. The funding will support a consortium of 14 principal investigators (PIs) across eight institutions, enabling a collaborative effort to push...
CSB adds Carterra LSAXT to its stable of instruments
Sep. 25, 2024—Carterra Inc., the world leader in innovative technologies enabling high-throughput biology, and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences announced the addition of the Carterra LSAXT label-free interaction analysis platform to the Center for Structural Biology. Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers will be able to discover and characterize large molecules including antibodies....
V-FIRST is hiring tenure-track faculty in Structural Biology & Imaging
Sep. 18, 2024—V-FIRST is hiring a cohort of up to 8 highly-motivated and accomplished early-career researchers. These tenure-track (Assistant Professor level) faculty positions offer an excellent opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research in one of two areas: 1) Structural Biology & Imaging or 2) Genetic and Omic Discovery & Health Disparities. Priority deadline to apply is November...
Iverson receives Innovation Catalyst Fund award
Sep. 4, 2024—Tina Iverson, Louise B. McGavock Chair and professor of pharmacology, received an Innovation Catalyst Fund award for her research project, “Inhibition of Bacterial Chemotaxis as an Antibiotic Potentiator,” which focuses on chemotaxis—a versatile process that allows bacteria to swim toward energy-rich molecules, find preferred niches for infection, avoid harmful species, change speeds, and form biofilms—as...
CryoEM awarded S10 grant
Sep. 4, 2024—Teru Nakagawa and the CSB CryoEM Facility have been awarded an NIH S10 Shared Instrumentation Grant to purchase a Talos L120C TEM. This TEM will be used to image negatively-stained samples and for screening vitrified samples. Researchers will use this robust screening TEM for extensive trial and error efforts to optimize and identify specimens most...
September MOE advanced training sessions: X-ray crystallography
Aug. 30, 2024—Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) software users can participate in training sessions focused on X-ray crystallography. The sessions are held throughout September and cover topics, including, structure preparation, sidechain rotamer exploration, electron density maps and solvent analysis with 3D-RISM. Mauricio Rodriguez, of Chemical Computing Group, will lead the training sessions via Zoom. Sign up for as...
Understanding NEIL1-RPA binding at the intersection of DNA repair and replication
Aug. 23, 2024—Reactive oxygen species damage DNA through the oxidation of bases and can result in a variety of diseases such as cancer, accelerated aging, and neurodegeneration. Single-strand DNA, which exists transiently during replication, is especially sensitive to reactive oxygen species. Oxidized bases are readily repaired by the base excision repair (BER) pathway, but incomplete repair during...
Hitting A. baumannii where it hurts: novel insights into DNA repair pathways as therapeutic targets
Aug. 9, 2024—Acinetobacter baumannii is a hospital-acquired human pathogen that can result in serious infections of the blood, wounds, lungs, and urinary tract. These infections are further complicated by rapid evolution of antibiotic resistance in this organism, making A. baumannii the fifth leading cause of antimicrobial resistance-associated deaths globally. There is, therefore, an urgent need for novel...
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