Epithelial Biology Center
Welcome to the EBC
The Vanderbilt Epithelial Biology Center consists of laboratories across Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center that have common interests in investigating the basic biology, physiology, and pathobiology of epithelial cells, the site of origin of the majority of cancers.
Vanderbilt Epithelial Biology Center co-director Bob Coffey, MD, is pictured with EBC core faculty member Ken Lau, PhD; EBC co-director James Goldenring, MD, PhD, is pictured in his lab.
About the EBC
The Epithelial Biology Center (EBC), founded in 2009, includes 40 members from multiple departments within Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University.
The mission of the EBC is to better understand and more effectively treat acute and chronic diseases of epithelial origin with a special emphasis on cancer. It brings together investigators from various disciplines to address complex issues in epithelial physiology and pathophysiology.
A goal of the EBC is to advance new technologies, including single cell RNA-sequencing and multiplex immunofluorescence.
Areas of investigation include:
- Establishment and maintenance of epithelial polarity
- Vesicle trafficking
- Epithelial defense against pathogens
- Identification and manipulation of selected adult stem cell populations
- Process of metaplasia
- Isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles and nanoparticles
More from EBC
Digital Histology Shared Resource
The Epithelial Biology Center hosts the Digital Histology Shared Resource (DHSR), which provides large-scale digital archiving and quantitative analysis of histologic, immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence staining of tissue sections and tissue microarrays.
The Aperio Versa 200, the Aperio AT2, and the Leica SCN400 Slide Scanner deliver solutions for high-resolution imaging in both bright field and fluorescence. All three instruments have high-capacity robotic autoloading (200 slides for the Aperio Versa, 400 for the AT2 and 384 slides for the Leica SCN400) making them ideal for large slide cohorts and tissue microarrays. The associated software packages provide complex algorithms for unbiased, automated image analysis and quantitation of immunostaining in both bright field and fluorescence.
CBIO-GS 8324. Epithelial Pathobiology
This highly popular class is offered every other year by the Epithelial Biology Center (EBC) as part of the Vanderbilt University Department of Cell and Developmental Biology Department (CDB) graduate level curriculum.
The class consists of 13 first- or second-year graduate students. Each week during the semester-long class the students critically review two recent papers from an outside PI. That Wednesday two students lead the discussion, but all the students are expected to have read the papers carefully. Their assignment is to critically evaluate the papers, finding any faults or concerns in the experimental design or figures. That Thursday the PI visits Vanderbilt and gives a general lecture to Vanderbilt community. On Friday, the PI has lunch with the students to discuss career development strategies and then there is a lively 1.5-hour exchange between the PI and students about the merits of their work.
During the course, ten visiting scientists from outside Vanderbilt will present special topics changing each year. Primary instructors are EBC co-directors Drs. Goldenring and Coffey. Visitors have included Eric Wieschaus, Norbert Perrimon, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Tomas Kirchhausen, Jerry Turner, Vann Bennett and Mike Verzi, among others.
Biennial Symposia
The EBC hosts a biennial symposium on the Vanderbilt campus that alternates with the highly popular epithelial pathobiology course. The next symposium will take place in 2027. See our past symposia agendas and speakers here.
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