By Basic Sciences department

Biochemistry

• Identification of Potent and Selective Inhibitors of Acanthamoeba: Structural Insights into Sterol 14α-Demethylase as a Key Drug Target. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
  Tatiana Hargrove, F. Peter Guengerich, Galina Lepesheva.
  
  Weekly Coordinates: Putting the fun back in antifungals: new insights into Acanthamoeba drug targets.
  
  
• Chiral Me-2-arachidonoyl Glycerols: The First Potent Endocannabinoid Glyceride Templates with Stability to COX-2. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
  Spyros Nikas* (Northeastern University), Shalley Kudalkar, Lawrence Marnett.

Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

• Obesity induces PD-1 on macrophages to suppress anti-tumour immunity. Nature.
  Jackie Bader, Melissa Wolf, Gian Luca Lupica-Tondo, Matthew Madden, Bradley Reinfeld, Emily Arner, Emma Hathaway, KayLee Steiner, Gabriel Needle, Zaid Hatem, Madelyn Landis, Eden Faneuff, Amondrea Blackman, Elysa Wolf, Matthew Cottam, Xiang Ye, Madison Bates, Kyra Smart, Wenjun Wang, Scott Haake, Kathryn Beckermann, Cynthia Reinhart-King, C. Henrique Serezani, Heidi Chen, Kimryn Rathmell, Alyssa Hasty, Jeffrey Rathmell*.
  
  Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News: “Obesity Paradox” of Cancer Immunotherapy Response Linked to Immune Checkpoint Protein on Macrophages.
  
  
• Modelling patient drug exposure profiles in vitro to narrow the valley of death. Nature Reviews Bioengineering.
  Catherine Leasure, Gregor Neuert.
  
  
• The MICOS Complex Regulates Mitochondrial Structure and Oxidative Stress During Age-Dependent Structural Deficits in the Kidney (preprint). bioRxiv.
  Zer Vue, Han Le, Kit Neikirk, Chanel Harris, Larry Vang, Estevão Scudese, Bryanna Shao, Andrea Marshall, Amber Crabtree, Alice Koh, Genesis Wilson, Ashton Oliver, Taylor Rodman, Kinuthia Kabugi, Elma Zaganjor, Celestine Wanjalla, Claude Albritton, Nelson Wandira, Sydney Jamison, Taseer Ahmed, Mohammad Saleem, Annet Kirabo, Antentor Hinton Jr.*
  
  
• Myeloid Cell Glucocorticoid, Not Mineralocorticoid Receptor Signaling, Contributes to Salt-Sensitive Hypertension in Humans via Cortisol (preprint). bioRxiv.
  Claude Albritton, Mert Demirci, Kit Neikirk, Lale Ertuglu, Jeanne Ishimwe, Ashley Mutchler, Quanhu Sheng, Cheryl Laffer, Celestine Wanjalla, Taseer Ahmed, Alexandria Porcia Haynes, Mohammad Saleem, Heather Beasley, Andrea Marshall, Zer Vue, Alp Ikizler, Valentina Kon, Antentor Hinton Jr., Annet Kirabo*.
  
  
• Technology accountability groups: A novel form of technology learning and support for graduate students and faculty in STEM. Journal of Cellular Physiology
  Feather Ives* (University of California, Berkeley), Celestine Wanjalla, Jazmine Benjamin, Kit Neikirk, Sulema Perales, Annet Kirabo, Antentor Hinton Jr.*
  

Pharmacology

• Morphological and electrophysiological characterization of a novel displaced astrocyte in the mouse retina. Glia.
  Joseph Holden*, Lauren Wareham, David Calkins*.
  
  VUMC News: A novel astrocyte cell in the retina: study.
  
  
• Clinical associations with a polygenic predisposition to benign lower white blood cell counts. Nature Communications.
  Jonathan Mosley*, John Shelley, Alyson Dickson, Jacy Zanussi, Laura Daniel, Neil Zheng, Lisa Bastarache, Wei-Qi Wei, Mingjian Shi, Nancy Cox, Dan Roden, C. Michael Stein, Sara Van Driest, Scott Borinstein, Xiao-Ou Shu, Cecilia Chung, Vivian Kawai.
  
  VUMC News: Genetic variation associated with low white blood cell count impacts clinical decisions.
  
  
• MeCP2 gene therapy ameliorates disease phenotype in mouse model for Pitt Hopkins syndrome. Neurotherapeutics.
  Cassandra Dennys* (The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital), Sheryl Anne Vermudez, Aditi Buch, Kelly Weiss, Yuta Moxley, Hemangi Rajpal, Samantha Powers, Colleen Niswender.
  
  
• Potentiation of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 1 modulates neurophysiological features in a mouse model of Rett syndrome. Neurotherapeutics.
  Hong-Wei Dong*, Kelly Weiss, Kathryn Baugh, Mac Meadows, Colleen Niswender*, Jeffrey Neul*.
  
  
• Arrestins: A Small Family of Multi-Functional Proteins. International Journal of Molecular Sciences
  Vsevolod Gurevich.


• Ketamine induced synaptic plasticity operates independently of long-term potentiation. Neuropsychopharmacology.
  Michelle Piazza*, Ege Kavalali, Lisa Monteggia*.
  
  
• A cocaine-activated ensemble exerts increased control over behavior while decreasing in size. Biological Psychiatry.
  Kimberly Thibeault*, Michael Leonard, Veronika Kondev, Soren Emerson, Rishik Bethi, Alberto Lopez, Brett Nabit, Hannah Elam, Danny Winder, Brad Grueter, Erin Calipari*.
  
  
• Epigenetic and proteomic signatures associate with clonal hematopoiesis expansion rate. Nature Aging.
  Taralynn Mack*, Michael Raddatz*, Yash Pershad, Benjamin Shoemaker, Dan Roden, Alexander Bick*.
  
  VUMC News: Research raises hope for treating potentially lethal blood condition.
  

Other basic biomedical papers

• Isolation of human antibodies against influenza B neuraminidase and mechanisms of protection at the airway interface.
  Rachael Wolters*, Ivette Nuñez, Elaine Chen, Ty Sornberger, Luke Myers, Chandrahaas Kona, Laura Handal, Taylor Engdahl, Nurgun Kose, Lauren Williamson, C. Buddy Creech, Katherine Gibson-Corley*, James Crowe Jr.*
  
  VUMC News: Antibodies may aid effort to fight influenza B: study.
  
  
• Development and organization of the retinal orientation selectivity map. Nature Communications.
  Dominic Vita*, Fernanda Orsi, Nathan Stanko, Natalie Clark, Alexandre Tiriac*.