Childhood obesity is often framed as a problem of habits, including what children eat, how much they move, and the environments in which they grow up. But researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences began asking a different question: what if some of the risk for obesity is set in motion long before a… Read More
“Our postdoctoral scholars are not just trainees — they are the research leaders of tomorrow,” Jessica Snowden, MD, vice chancellor for Research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, said at the recent 18th Annual Postdoctoral Research Showcase. Hosted by the UT Health Science Center Postdoctoral Association (PhDA) on January 22, the showcase brought… Read More
In 2025, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center didn’t just advance science, it reshaped what’s possible for research, health care, and collaboration across Tennessee and beyond. From achieving the highest national research designation to leading statewide initiatives and driving breakthroughs in cancer, neuroscience, and infectious disease, UT Health Sciences emerged as a powerful force… Read More
When Trey Fisher, PhD, walked into the vascular biology lab led by Deidra Mountain, PhD, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine – Knoxville more than a decade ago, he was a graduate student looking for a scientific challenge. He found one, and something more: the beginnings of a partnership that… Read More
When the phone call came, Dr. James Dale’s first thought wasn’t gratitude or pride. It was confusion. “Why in the world are they giving this award to me?” the professor emeritus recalled thinking. “Where are all the young, innovative people?” Yet after four decades of research on a vaccine that could save nearly half a… Read More
“New discoveries in science are more important to me than money.” That’s how researcher Duane Miller, PhD, describes the passion that has driven his career. “You can’t understand the excitement you have when you find out that one of your drugs works the way you think it should, or you get a surprise, the fact… Read More
Inside a lab at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, a transparent chip no bigger than a stick of gum could be changing the way scientists study the human brain and how they fight some of the world’s most dangerous viruses. Colleen Jonsson, PhD, Harriet S. Van Vleet Chair of Excellence in Virology and… Read More
When Brendan Tunstall, PhD, looks at the science of addiction, he sees something missing. “For all we’ve learned about the pharmacology and neurobiology of alcohol use disorder,” he said, “in preclinical behavioral research, historically, we’ve largely ignored one factor known to powerfully influence human behavior—other people.” Dr. Tunstall, assistant professor of Pharmacology in the College… Read More
