department of biochemistry

Displaying 1 - 10 of 13


Study examines HIV drug’s potential to treat Alzheimer’s

A drug used to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS is showing promise as a potential therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, and Vanderbilt University biochemist F. Peter Guengerich, PhD, is aiding efforts to make this approach to improving memory and cognitive function even better.


Imaging host-pathogen battle for metal

Bacterial pathogens require nutrient metals to survive and cause disease, and hosts try to protect themselves by hiding metals away — a process called “nutritional immunity.” Bacteria have evolved multiple strategies for getting the metals they need, including the secretion of small molecule metal-binding “sponges” called siderophores.


A critical factor for wound healing

Using mouse skin as a model system, J. Scott Beeler, Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, and colleagues found that p73 is required for the timely healing of cutaneous wounds. In normal tissue, p73 expression increased in response to wounding, whereas p73 deficiency resulted in delayed wound healing, they reported in the journal PLOS ONE.


Steroid binding to metabolic enzyme

The human cytochrome P450 enzymes are responsible for metabolizing a variety of substances — from lipids (fats) and steroid hormones to drugs and toxic chemicals.

One such enzyme, P450 17A1, generates androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), involved in the production of sex hormones. How the enzyme binds to its substrates has remained a mystery until now.


Signals from the “conveyor belt”

Cellular signaling pathways involved in everything from the proliferation of fatty tissue to the death of neurons in the brain are tightly regulated by “cascades” of sequentially activated enzymes, MAP kinases.