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Decoding mental health
Computational neuroscientist P. Read Montague Jr. poses an unassuming question filled with hidden complications: “When you’re deciding whether to turn left or right, or to eat the chocolate cake or the carrots, what’s happening in your brain?” It’s a simple question on the surface, but it masks a complex web of brain activity. Underlying our decisions and behavior — the ‘‘software’’ — are hidden biological processes that make up the ‘‘hardware’’ of the brain. Understanding these processes is key to unraveling not just the roots of human behavior, but also the core elements of medical issues such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease. “It might seem like we are desperately trying to get inside people’s heads,” said Montague, director of the Center for Human Neuroscience Research and the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, “but we aim to understand why people do things that simply can’t be gleaned from observing their behavior. We want to measure it.”
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The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is one of the nation’s fastest-growing academic biomedical research enterprises and a destination for world-class researchers. The institute’s Virginia Tech scientists focus on diseases that are the leading causes of death and suffering in the United States, including brain disorders, heart disease, and cancer. Since its founding in 2010, the research institute has experienced unprecedented growth: doubling its enterprise and lab facilities in Roanoke, while also investing in brand-new laboratories on the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C.
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VIDEOS
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Home Item“It takes a village…” Advancing Health Equity Through Clinical and Translational Science , home
Nov. 5, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception and hors d'oeuvres at 5 p.m.) | Jennifer L. Kraschnewski, M.D., M.P.H., Professor, Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences, Director, Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Penn State University | Timothy A. Johnson Medical Scholar Lecture Series
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Home ItemClinical Applications of Cancer Genetics , home
Nov. 21, 2024, 5:30 p.m. (Reception at 5 p.m.) | Luis Diaz, Jr., M.D., Head, Division of Solid Tumor Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Member, National Academy of Medicine | Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
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Home ItemA Ribocentric View of Muscle Proteostasis in Health and Disease: Novel Mechanisms Potential Therapeutic Opportunities , home
Nov. 22, 2024, 11:00 a.m. | Gustavo A. Nader, Ph.D., FAPS, Professor, College of Health and Human Development; Chair, Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology; Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; The Pennsylvania State University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Exercise Medicine Research
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Home ItemHuman Laboratory Evaluation of Cannabis Products , home
Dec. 13, 2024, 11:00 a.m. | Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Health Behaviors Research and the Addiction Recovery Research Center
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Home ItemMechanics of Convective Cell Motion , home
Jan. 10, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Michael Murrell, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Yale University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Cancer Research Center – Roanoke
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Home ItemThe Role of Pericytes in Pulmonary Vascular Diseases , home
Jan. 17, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Vinicio de Jesus Perez, M.D., FCCP, FAHA, Assistant Professor, Wall Center Adult PH Clinic Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research
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