November 8, 2021

Two Vanderbilt faculty have received an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health as part of a groundbreaking, multi-institutional overview of variables influencing infant and child brain development, including substance exposure. Laurie Cutting, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Special Education, Psychology and Human Development, Radiology and Pediatrics, and Sarah Osmundson, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will lead Vanderbilt’s participation in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development study. The study, which will be conducted over at least 10 years with two dozen other institutions, aims to understand how pre- and post-natal exposures to substances and environments may alter developmental trajectories of children from birth. MORE

Vanderbilt researchers are reimagining Charles Darwin’s work by communicating how the origin of species might depend largely on the microbiome—the totality of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other organisms—living in or on a host body. Darwin’s On the Origin of Species put forth a seminal and revolutionary thesis for the life sciences in 1859: Populations with a common ancestor evolve over time with enough change to become different species that no longer successfully interbreed. More than 160 years later, the life sciences are experiencing a second revolution based on the newly appreciated knowledge that all plant and animal species are stable or temporary hosts to a microbiome living in or on the body. This work highlights how the evidence for microbiomes as agents of host speciation has essentially reached a tipping point for microbiologists, evolutionary biologists, chemists, immunologists and developmental biologists. It sets the stage for a more integrative phase of study, funding and meetings focused on host-microbe interactions shaping the origin of species. [This work is supported in part by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.] MORE

The flourishing Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative has been renamed the Vanderbilt Microbiome Innovation Center (VMIC) to offer a hub of resources for education, outreach programs, and research around the microbiome—the community of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses that are crucial to sustaining life ecosystems. These include humans, agriculture, and biogeochemical processes in the environment. The VMIC, led by Seth Bordenstein, Centennial Endowed Professor of Biological Sciences; professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology; and VI4 associate director, originally started as a grassroots collaboration between a handful of faculty and students a decade ago. In 2019, the journal Nature Microbiology included the center as a discipline leader and standard bearer among the microbiome sciences in higher education. Home to the first-in-kind Vanderbilt University Microbiome Society and a renowned discovery-based lab series for high schools and colleges, the VMIC encompasses a vibrant community of more than 300 members. MORE 

Vanderbilt University has updated its COVID-19 health and safety protocols in accordance with a new executive order issued by the White House. As part of the federal government’s “Path Out of the Pandemic: COVID-19 Action Plan,” the executive order requires organizations with federal contracts, including Vanderbilt, to comply with certain masking and physical distancing protocols. The requirements extend to all employees of federal contractors, which includes all Vanderbilt faculty, staff and postdocs, and to visitors on campus. Signs have been posted throughout campus as a reminder of the updated protocols. The most current and complete information about the university’s protocols is also available on the health and safety website. MORE

Cadets in Vanderbilt’s Army Reserve Officers Training Corps recently teamed up with Vanderbilt University Medical Center instructors to learn lifesaving techniques first developed on the battlefield. The cadets participated in a Stop the Bleed course at The Commons Center on Oct. 28. Stop the Bleed offers training in basic bleeding control techniques, such as direct pressure, wound packing and tourniquet application—treatments perfected on the field of combat during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan resulting in significantly fewer deaths. The American College of Surgeons collaborated with the U.S. military to develop the Stop the Bleed initiative, which is designed to empower civilian bystanders to perform lifesaving treatment before first responders can arrive on the scene of an accident or injury. This summer, the Tennessee General Assembly passed House Bill 0212, which authorizes local education agencies to develop and implement Stop the Bleed programs in consultation with local law enforcement beginning with the 2021-22 academic year. MORE