Recent News

Vanderbilt and Illumina join forces to decode the human immunome

The Human Vaccines Project is a large private-public research undertaking meant to decode the genetics behind the human immune system in order to change the face of immunotherapy and vaccinations. Dr. James Crowe Jr., M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center is heading the charge to put together a puzzle made of billions of genes.

Recent study into a human antibody against Zika virus

New research into the Zika epidemic. This article focuses in-depth on the findings of neutralizing antibodies that could possibly be used in a therapeutic format for preventing and controlling a Zika infection. Detailed three-dimensional images of the virus as well as the studied antibody were mapped and analyzed, with conclusions and further applications of the results discussed. 

Crowe’s pediatric immune response research lauded

James Crowe Jr., M.D., director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, is the 2017-2018 recipient of the Samuel Rosenthal Prize for Excellence in Academic Pediatrics. The $50,000 prize from the Leighton A. Rosenthal Family Foundation and the Milton A. and Charlotte R. Kramer Charitable Foundation, both in Cleveland, Ohio, will be awarded over two years to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) to pay direct costs for Crowe’s research and education activities.

Team isolates new antibodies that may aid RSV vaccine design

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have taken another step toward developing a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the major cause of life-threatening pneumonia in infants worldwide. Reporting this week in the journal Nature Microbiology, James Crowe Jr., M.D., and colleagues describe the isolation of 13 new human monoclonal antibodies that recognize a conformation of RSV’s fusion (F) protein, which fuses the viral particle to its target cell in the lung.

Introducing Vanderbilt’s Program for Next Generation Vaccines – Integrating Structural Biology with Big Data

This program builds on an existing collaboration between PIs Jens Meiler (VU) and James Crowe (VUMC) but transforms it substantially, expands scope, and shifts focus to the next frontier: the integration of big data and structural biology into vaccine design. It adds a comprehensive training program, eight mostly early/mid-career faculty, and a series innovative technologies to form the Vanderbilt Program for Next Generation Vaccines.

Six from Vanderbilt to speak at TEDxNashville March 17–18

Astrophysicists, artists, celebrity chefs and clinical psychologists will be among the speakers at the eighth annual TEDxNashville. The two-day event, which will be held March 17-18 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Andrew Jackson Hall, celebrates community building and “ideas worth spreading.” The list of speakers includes the following from Vanderbilt: Julie Adams, professor of computer science and computer engineering; James Crowe Jr., Ann Scott Carell Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center;