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Our Labs

Our Laboratories

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty conduct research in wet and dry labs in our 280,000-square-foot facilities

Lab at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
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    Bickel Lab
    Bickel Lab , home

    The Bickel Lab studies dysfunctional decision-making and interventions to help people battling addiction make healthier choices.

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    Casas Lab
    Casas Lab , home

    The King-Casas Lab addresses two broad areas of inquiry: (1) neural underpinnings of valuation and learning in social settings, and (2) how social and economic preferences influence valuation and learning.

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    Chappell Lab
    Chappell Lab , home

    The Chappell Lab studies how the blood vasculature develops during early organ formation and during certain diseases such as tumor progression and neurological disorders.

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    Chiu Lab
    Chiu Lab , home

    The Chiu Laboratory examines the neuroscience of human motivation and social decision-making.

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    DeLuca Lab
    DeLuca Lab , home

    The DeLuca lab has examined the impact of intensive neurorehabilitation treatments on children and adults with neuromotor impairments for more than 25 years.

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    DiFeliceantonio Lab
    DiFeliceantonio Lab , home

    Dr. DiFeliceantonio's laboratory uses multimodal imaging and metabolic measures to study how the brain integrates peripheral signals to guide food motivation, choice, and eating behavior.

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    Farris Lab
    Farris Lab , home

    The Farris Lab studies how neurons respond during learning and how those responses differ between genetically distinct cell types thought to be required for storing memories.

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    Finkielstein Lab
    Finkielstein Lab , home

    The Finkielstein lab studies how disruption of the body's circadian rhythm influences cancer initiation and progression.

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    Freitas-Lemos Lab
    Freitas-Lemos Lab , home

    The Freitas-Lemos Lab studies the effects of new regulations or tobacco products on disparities in tobacco use and its health impacts among different populations.

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    Friedlander Lab
    Friedlander Lab , home

    The Friedlander Lab uses quantitative single neuron patch clamp electrophysiological methods and imaging to see structural changes in the calcium signals that underlie synaptic function.

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    Gourdie Lab
    Gourdie Lab , home

    The Gourdie Lab studies subunit proteins called connexins, which are located in gap junctions that enable direct communication between cells.

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    Hourigan Lab
    Hourigan Lab , home

    The Hourigan Lab is focused on bringing precision medicine approaches to the care of patients suffering from the rare, highly-fatal, blood cancer Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

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    Howell Lab
    Howell Lab , home

    The Howell Lab studies ways to improve mother-infant health outcomes by exploring the factors that influence healthy infant brain and behavioral development.

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    Johnstone Lab
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    The Johnstone Lab focuses on understanding how healthy blood vessels are altered in disease and defining effective pathways to therapeutically target vascular disease.

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    LaConte Lab
    LaConte Lab , home

    Research in the LaConte lab is devoted to advanced neuroimaging acquisition and data analysis approaches, aimed at basic scientific discovery as well as understanding and rehabilitating neurological and psychiatric diseases.

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    LaMantia Lab
    LaMantia Lab , home

    The LaMantia Lab studies the genetics underlying neural development to identify new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for a broad range of disorders that compromise brain and organ system development.

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    Lamouille Lab
    Lamouille Lab , home

    The Lamouille Lab studies ways to deregulate cancer cell communication and is developing new therapeutic strategies to stall cancer stem cell proliferation and metastases.

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    Lee Lab
    Lee Lab , home

    The Lee lab develops various types of biomaterials to enhance anti-tumor immune responses without toxic effects, and to understand their therapeutic mechanisms in a range of cancers.

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    Legon Lab
    Legon Lab , home

    The Legon Lab studies modulation of the human brain via focused ultrasound.

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    Lessard Lab
    Lessard Lab , home

    The Lessard Lab studies the molecular mechanisms behind the powerful clinical benefits of exercise in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

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    Mishra Lab
    Mishra Lab , home

    The Mishra Lab studies the molecular signaling perturbations associated with metabolic syndrome.

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    Montague Lab
    Montague Lab , home

    The Montague Lab's work focuses on computational neuroscience – the connection between physical mechanisms present in real neural tissue and the computational functions that these mechanisms embody.

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    Morozov Lab
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    The Morozov Lab studies the neuronal circuits associated with empathy and examines how these circuits become altered in pathological conditions related to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, psychopathy, autism, and schizophrenia.

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    Mulvaney Lab
    Mulvaney Lab , home

    The Mulvaney Lab studies cellular signaling pathways and how changes in these pathways contribute to cancer with the goal of translating these findings into meaningful clinical improvements for patient care.

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    Munson Lab
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    The Munson Lab studies the tumor microenvironment in cancers, including glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer. Our research focuses on the emerging research area of fluid flow.

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    Pan Lab
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    The Pan Lab aims to elucidate the general principles of vertebrate development and uncover the genetic and developmental causes of human neurological and psychiatric disorders.

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    Parker Lab
    Parker Lab , home

    The Parker Lab conducts basic and translational research into the performance of health care teams in numerous clinical domains, including the ICU, operating room, and outpatient clinical practice.

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    Pfleger Lab
    Pfleger Lab , home

    The Pfleger Lab studies the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular disease.

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    Poelzing Lab
    Poelzing Lab , home

    The Poelzing Lab studies the electrical activity of the heart through cardiac myocytes and proteins and how abnormalities are linked to sudden cardiac death.

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    Purcell Lab
    Purcell Lab , home

    The work of the Purcell Lab is aimed at understanding the neurobiology of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.

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    C. Ramey Lab
    C. Ramey Lab , home

    The Ramey Lab's program of research centers on the role of experience – across the human lifespan - in the development of competence and robust health.

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    S.L. Ramey Lab
    S.L. Ramey Lab , home

    The Landesman Ramey Lab addresses the contribution of early experience from before conception to later health and development and the development and testing of highly promising treatments for children with disabilities and at-risk conditions.

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    Sassi Lab
    Sassi Lab , home

    The Sassi Lab focuses on studying the role of non-coding RNAs, coding RNAs and cyclic nucleotides pathways in cardiac health and disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis.

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    Sheng Lab
    Sheng Lab , home

    Researchers in the Sheng Laboratory are particularly interested in glioblastoma multiforme.

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    Shin Lab
    Shin Lab , home

    The Shin Lab aims to understand the role of brain circuit-specific mechanisms using translationally relevant animal models of stress-induced psychiatric diseases.

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    Smyth Lab
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    The Smyth Laboratory studies cardiomyopathy at a subcellular level, searching for potential targets for therapeutic interventions to help restore normal cardiac function to diseased hearts.

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    Stein Lab
    Stein Lab , home

    The Stein Lab's research interests include behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, addiction, obesity, and health behavior.

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    Swanger Lab
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    The Swanger Lab studies subtypes within a glutamate receptor family, called N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR), located in the brain's thalamus to understand the origins of seizures.

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    Van der Heijden Lab
    Van der Heijden Lab , home

    The Van der Heijden Lab studies the development of cerebellar function in health and disease.

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    Warren Lab
    Warren Lab , home

    The Warren Lab studies the mechanisms underlying metabolic reprogramming in the failing heart.

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    Weston Lab
    Weston Lab , home

    The Weston Lab studies gene variants that cause human childhood epilepsies and seeks to understand how they alter neuronal physiology to cause network hyperexcitability and seizures.

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    Wu Lab
    Wu Lab , home

    The Advances in Technology and Drug Delivery Initiative Laboratory, led by Cheng-Chia "Fred" Wu, M.D., Ph.D., studies the translation of novel drug delivery technologies to treating children with brain tumors.

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    Yan Lab
    Yan Lab , home

    The Yan Lab employs the state-of-the-art molecular genetics and imaging technologies to elucidate the underlying molecular and signaling mechanisms of exercise training-induced adaptations and the impacts on health and disease.

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    Yu Lab
    Yu Lab , home

    The Yu Lab studies the basic principles of how chromatin modifying machineries and downstream effector proteins function and how cancer cells hijack these mechanisms to facilitate oncogenesis.