Dear colleagues, community members, supporters and friends,
As we begin a new calendar year, I want to take a moment to highlight just a few of our research partnerships, which, after years of relationship building, are now culminating in promising new pilot research programs, interdisciplinary collaborations, and educational opportunities.
Earlier this month we announced the very first multi-institutional teams, which each include a researcher from Children's National Hospital and Virginia Tech, to be each awarded a $50,000 pilot grant to study aggressive forms of brain cancer. We also expect to open our new research facilities on the Children's National Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C., later this summer.
The iTHRIV CTSA - a partnership between UVA, Virginia Tech, Inova Health System, and Carilion Clinic - also awarded $200,000 in funding to five interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research teams to study Parkinson's disease, celiac disease, pediatric heart transplant, telemedicine, and epilepsy.
We continue to advance our international partnerships through the Precision Neuroscience partnership, a trans-Atlantic consortium of neuroscientists and physicians who are dedicated to advancing precision medicine, including the diagnosis and treatment for brain disease and injury.
Over the past few years, we've also developed promising new industry partnerships, allowing our researchers to access cutting-edge instrumentation.
In addition, we have developed major new partnerships between the research institute and state agencies, including the Virginia Department of Health and the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, with whom we have collaborated to validate our COVID-19 tests and provide much-needed testing service to the entire southwestern region of the Commonwealth. This partnership includes the state OneLab Network contract, with up to $22 million in reimbursements annually. Our partnerships also extend to federal agencies, such as the NIH, where several of our major research awards valued at over $15 million are through the U-mechanism, designated for cooperative agreements.
By forging new partnerships with collaborators across the world, we hope to make major strides in high-impact clinical and biomedical research and create new development opportunities for researchers here at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. Together, we will build a healthier future.
In the spirit of Ut Prosim,
Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
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Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientists identify an elusive link between seizures, cell signaling protein
A research team led by Associate Professor Yuchin Albert Pan have identified a new link between seizures and connexin 36 deficiency. The study, published in Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, describes how zebrafish brain hyperactivity triggers an acute drop in connexin 36, which may in turn contribute to the onset of subsequent seizures. Read More
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Virginia Tech COVID-19 lab ready to ramp up testing for thousands of student samples
Virginia Tech’s COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, located at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has processed more than 78,000 samples to support health districts across Virginia and the university community since its launch in April. Read More
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Tracking fluid flow in tumors, tissues drives new Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientist
Munson, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, joined the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s primary faculty team this summer. Read More
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Virginia Tech, Children’s National Hospital award $100,000 to fund collaborative cancer research pilot projects
Two multi-institutional teams, which each include a researcher from Children’s National and Virginia Tech, will be awarded $50,000 to study aggressive forms of brain cancer. Read More
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iTHRIV announces health research pilot project recipients
The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hub partnership between Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, Carilion Clinic, and Inova Health System has awarded $200,000 in funding to five research projects through the Pilot Translational and Clinical Studies Program. Multi-institutional teams of scientists, physicians, and engineers will study Parkinson’s disease, celiac disease, pediatric heart transplant, pediatric telemedicine, and epilepsy. Read More
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TBMH graduate program office earns gold certification for sustainability efforts
The translational biology, medicine, and health (TBMH) interdisciplinary graduate education program, spanning multiple departments and colleges, is the first university office to receive a gold certification for its sustainability efforts from the Virginia Tech Office of Sustainability. Based on the health sciences and technology campus in Roanoke, the TBMH program’s administrative team completed Virginia Tech’s Green Office Certification Program in 2020. Read More
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Making transformative discoveries to build a healthier future for all
Virginia Tech and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute are providing rapid COVID-19 sample analysis to help control the pandemic in support of our local community, the Commonwealth, and frontline responders. Private support is critical to continue these efforts. Here are some ways that you can support the research institute right now, in light of COVID-19:
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