Dear Friends and Colleagues,
There’s excitement in the air around the accelerated pace in which the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is working to advance innovation and discoveries to bring science to the improvement of health today.
Earlier this month I was in Charlottesville for the groundbreaking of the new Paul and Diane Manning Biotechnology Institute at the University of Virginia. There, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced plans for a new initiative for biomedical research across the state’s three major universities with academic health science centers – the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Tech.
The proposed budget he will present to the General Assembly includes $27 million for the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute to develop a new patient research center to advance the institute’s basic and translational research to the patient clinical research stage. The initiative is based on a proposal Virginia Tech submitted to the governor’s office.
I anticipate that this will build on our efforts to more robustly advance into the clinical arena the discovery phase of research at the institute and across many other Virginia Tech programs. Moreover, it will provide support for Virginia Tech to recruit physician scientists and support teams whose primary responsibility will be to develop, lead and implement investigator-initiated clinical research for adults and children in cancer, brain/behavior disorders and heart disease. We are eager to deepen our collaborative medical research with our colleagues at Carilion Clinic, at the Children’s National Hospital and across the commonwealth, including at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.
We’re also making substantial progress in expanding our programs and recruiting additional faculty research team leaders for multiple new positions in cancer, neuroscience, behavioral health, and exercise medicine, in part due to the generosity and support of the Red Gates Foundation. In addition to the creative dedicated faculty and staff, the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who work at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute are key elements of the research engine that drives the enterprise. Their important contributions and how gifts have supported their work are featured in three stories in this month’s newsletter.
As we close the year, all of us at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute want to express our sincere gratitude for your support, your confidence, and your friendship.
Best wishes for health, happiness and peace from the entire Fralin Biomedical Research Institute family to you, your families and friends for the holiday season and throughout the new year.
Yours truly in the spirit of Ut Prosim,
Mike
Michael J. Friedlander, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Vice President for Health Sciences and Technology, Virginia Tech
Senior Dean for Research, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
Professor, Biological Sciences, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and Affiliated Faculty, School of Biomedical Engineering and Science
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Virginia Tech poised to support commonwealth's commitment to biotechnology
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s upcoming biennial budget will include $27 million available for the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, part of an overall $90 million investment that will fund a biotechnology, life sciences, and pharmaceutical manufacturing network. Read Story
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Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientist identifies connection in the brain between stress, emotional eating
In a study published in Nature Communications, Assistant Professor Sora Shin describes the role of a molecule responsible for triggering overconsumption of comfort foods after a threatening event. Read Story
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Eminent scientists say a child-centric approach is the blueprint to improve communities
Comprehensive findings from the Abecedarian project illumnate strategies to drive community transformation, researchers say. Read Story
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New Fralin Biomedical Research Institute researcher pursues heart failure therapies
Assistant Professor Summit Mishra explores specific molecular pathways underlying a common form of heart disease that afflicts millions of Americans, predominantly women. Read Story
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2023 marks a year of firsts for Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program
The interdisciplinary program saw its first student assigned full-time to lab in Washington, D.C., its first students from Nepal and Ghana, and its first student to be awarded a prestigious grant for physician scientists. Read Story
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Biomedical innovations shine in high-stakes Hokie Pitch event
Graduate students pitched entrepreneurial ideas to solve health problems. Read Story
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Seeking a better understanding of how genetic mutations lead to developmental disorders
A new Fralin Biomedical Research Institute award for postdoctoral scholars will help Chelsea Phillips advance research related to cellular junctions in heart cells. Read Story
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Translational biology, medicine, and health student studying focused ultrasound named first recipient of Jeanine L. Matte Fellowship
The gift prioritizes novel approaches to unsolved questions in neuroscience research. Read Story
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Research into ultra-processed food's effect on young adults' eating behavior gets support from Gaskins Fellowship
Emma Leslie, a translational biology, medicine, and health doctoral student, is focusing on people aged 18 to 25 because ultra-processed foods make up the bulk of their diets. Read Story
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Gov. Glenn Youngkin's announcement of a proposed $90 million in funding for Virginia's "Research Triangle," which includes the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, caused media buzz across the state, while publications by Sora Shin and Craig Ramey and Sharon Ramey drew attention in the scientific press.
- Executive Director Michael Friedlander was quoted in stories across the state about Gov. Youngkin's plans to establish a collaborative research enterprise between Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Stories on the proposal appeared on television news and in newspapers across the state, including Virginia Business, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, WWBT TV in Richmond, WAVY TV in Norfolk, Cardinal News, The Roanoke Times, and Roanoke TV stations WDBJ and WSLS.
- Sora Shin, assistant professor at the research institute, continued a banner year with a study identifying the connection in the brain between acute stress to the desire to eat high-fat comfort foods. News of the study was picked up by Knowridge, Nutrition Insight, and Bioengineer.
- Veteran researchers Craig Ramey and Sharon Ramey published an article covering details of a decades-long study that focuses on early childhood education and development with the message that communities can prosper by providing attentive education and social services to their children. Several publications carried the story, including Scienmag and Science Daily.
View the full list of media mentions.
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Here's how you can support the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in advancing human health through science:
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