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Aug. 6, 2025
‘The doctors told my parents I would never walk and that I would never talk’
If little Arden Grim wanted to see the fuzzy red guy from Sesame Street, she had to eat her breakfast. Elmo was at the bottom of her bowl.
To get there, she had to take up her spoon and eat with her right hand, the one severely weakened by the stroke she suffered before she was born. Cerebral palsy limits use of her right arm and leg. Grim was not yet 3 years old.
She's now 21, and finding Elmo with her spoon is among her oldest memories. Tellingly, it’s a memory from an innovative and intensive therapy originally developed at the Neuromotor Research Clinic, then at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
A decade and a half later, Grim is back at the clinic — now based at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in Roanoke — but as a summer undergraduate research fellow, where she has a unique perspective on kids going through the same therapy.
Upcoming
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2025 Vascular and Heart Research Symposium , homeAug. 18-19, 2025 | Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC | 4 Riverside Circle, Roanoke, Virginia
Creating a healthier future. For everyone.
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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2025 Vascular and Heart Research Symposium , redirectAug. 18-19, 2025 | Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC | 4 Riverside Circle, Roanoke, Virginia
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Center for Neurobiology Research Welcome Symposium 2025 , homeAug. 29, 2025, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Center for Neurobiology Research Welcome Symposium
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Dissertation Defense: Investigating the Interaction Between the Mammalian Circadian Clock and Extracellular Vesicles in the Progression of Pancreatic Cancer , homeSept. 5, 2025, 10 a.m. | Jonathan Church | Graduate Student Dissertation Defense
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Inheriting Chromatin Domains in Mammals and the Mechanisms Involved , homeSept. 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.
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Flow Induced Endothelial Planar Polarity for Signaling Regulation , homeSept. 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
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The Bitter Truth: Alcohol Use and Its Effects on Chemosensory Function , homeOct. 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
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