Virginia Tech® home

In Person Lecture: Harnessing the Power of Big Biobanks for Precision Medicine

Insert your title here

Zhengming Chen, MBBS, D.Phil.

Richard Peto Professor of Epidemiology
Nuffield Department of Population Health
University of Oxford

Fellow, Academy Europaea

Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture:  Unleashing the Power of Big Biobanks in the East and West for Precision Medicine

Date: March 16, 2023

Time: 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.  (Reception and hors d'oeuvres at 5 p.m.)

Archived video

Loading player for https://video.vt.edu/media/Maury+Strauss+Distinguished+Public+Lectures/1_m4ubdqfe...

About this Seminar

Many important genetic and non-genetic causes of major diseases still await discovery. Several big population-based biobanks have been undertaken this century, including the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) and UK Biobank, both based in Oxford. Each recruited 500,000 apparently healthy adults, recording lifestyle and physiological factors, storing biological samples, and monitoring their health through linkages with hospital records. CKB covered ten diverse areas distributed across China, and after >15 years of follow-up, it has recorded >1.5 million disease episodes of >5000 different disease types. Major findings are now emerging in CKB, some expected and some intriguingly unexpected but novel, including assessment of any causal protective effects of moderate alcohol drinking on CVD using the East Asian specific “flushing” genes. The big, maturing biobanks in the East and West — with different lifestyles, environments and genetic architectures — will greatly improve our understanding about aetiology of many diseases, benefiting populations worldwide.

Additional Details

This is a free event hosted by Dr. Michael Friedlander and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. For more information, please call 540-526-2059.

About Maury Strauss

Maury Strauss is a longtime community benefactor and businessman who supports biomedical research with the goal of energizing the local economy and improving quality of life in our neighborhoods and around the world. In order to ensure the continued success of Roanoke’s biomedical research enterprise, as well as the free public seminars, Mr. Strauss has made a generous gift to the series. Read More.

Support Our Research

Your generous support of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's rigorous biomedical research enterprise makes a difference for our faculty, students, and patients. Every donation helps accelerate the pace of new discoveries to help patients with cancer, neurological disorders, heart disease, and even rare genetic disorders. Private donations fast-track our progress. 

You May Also Be Interested In...

  • Home Item
    Seminar: Team Science in Clinical Research
    Seminar: Team Science in Clinical Research , home

    Aug. 27 2025, at 1 p.m. | Karen Johnston, M.D., M.Sc., Harrison Distinguished Professor of Neurology, Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research, Director, integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV), University of Virginia School of Medicine | Seminar

  • Home Item
    Inheriting Chromatin Domains in Mammals and the Mechanisms Involved
    Inheriting Chromatin Domains in Mammals and the Mechanisms Involved , home

    Sept. 5, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Thelma Escobar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and Cancer Research Center — D.C.

  • Home Item
    Flow Induced Endothelial Planar Polarity for Signaling Regulation
    Flow Induced Endothelial Planar Polarity for Signaling Regulation , home

    Sept. 19, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Julia Mack, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of California Los Angeles | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Vascular and Heart Research

  • Home Item
    The Bitter Truth: Alcohol Use and Its Effects on Chemosensory Function
    The Bitter Truth: Alcohol Use and Its Effects on Chemosensory Function , home

    Oct. 3, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Paule Valery Joseph, Ph.D., Lasker Clinical Research Scholar, NIH Distinguished Scholar; Acting Chief, Section of Sensory Science and Metabolism Unit, Co-Director of the National Smell and Taste Center, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Health Behaviors Research and Addiction Recovery Research Center

  • Home Item
    Organization and Control of Hippocampal Networks
    Organization and Control of Hippocampal Networks , home

    Oct. 17, 2025, 11:00 a.m. | Ivan Soltesz, Ph.D., James R. Doty Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences, Stanford University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Neurobiology Research

  • Home Item
    Thinking the Right Thoughts
    Thinking the Right Thoughts , home

    Oct. 31, 2025, 11 a.m. | Nathaniel Daw, Ph.D., Professor, Computational and Theoretical Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Princeton University | Co-Sponsored by the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Center for Human Neuroscience Research