Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists continue to succeed in competing for extramural research awards, with a major emphasis on federal government funding, particularly from the National Institutes of Health. At the end of December, our active grants and contracts for the current fiscal year totaled $220 million. Of that, 70 percent was from federal sources, 5 percent from state agencies, and the remaining 25 percent from private foundations and individuals.
Thus, while much of our outside funding comes from government grants and contracts, philanthropic support is key to our success, providing critical support for new roads of inquiry leading to exciting discoveries and substantial follow-on government grants and contracts.
An example can be found in the Seale Innovation Fund awards. The fund’s support for groundbreaking research has already led to several important advances — as well as an 18:1 multiplier effect on new funding to help fuel the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s mission of advancing health through science.
This month, we are pleased to announce the new Seale Innovation Fund grant recipients. Their projects represent a broad range of research, including cardiovascular health, diabetes, cancer, stress, brain development, and more. Established with support from Virginia Tech alumni Carol Seale and Bill Seale, the fund supports early stage pilot projects whose data collection and research findings can be leveraged to support larger projects.
The ultimate goal — not only for the Seale Innovation projects, but for much of the work at the institute — is to make fundamental discoveries, then translate those findings into solutions that improve health through prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disorders while promoting healthy lifestyles and choices.
This month you can read more about NIH-supported studies from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Addiction Recovery Research Center. Researchers found that drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes reduce alcohol cravings and lower the average number of drinks consumed and the odds of binge drinking.
And in an American Heart Association-supported study, Carilion Clinic surgeons and research institute scientists collaborated to improve the health of veins used in coronary artery bypass grafts, implementing basic science to better understand treatments and, hopefully, improve patient outcomes.
We also launched the new year with our most recent Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture. Ziyad Al-Aly, an international authority on long COVID, shared with our community the latest insights and medical impact of the pandemic on the nation’s health. Al-Aly provided expert testimony to the U.S. Senate on this topic just days before he visited the institute.
As we begin the new year, we express our gratitude for the contributors who recognize the importance of biomedical research, and the students, faculty, and staff who make it happen.
Yours 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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It's the 'thing in my life that shaped me the most,' participant says of life-changing therapy
After experiencing a stroke in utero that caused weakness on the left side of her body, Keya Shapiro found a home at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Neuromotor Research Clinic, which has been conducting research in the therapy since 2013. Read Story
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Researchers find that using patients' own blood, rather than saline, helps preserve veins in coronary bypass grafts
A Fralin Biomedical Research Institute cardiovascular scientist and a Carillon Clinic surgeon team up for a clinical trial with the potential to improve health outcomes. Read Story
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Buzz kill: Virginia Tech researchers find drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes reduce alcohol cravings, use in individuals with obesity
The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute study analyzed social media posts and self-reported experiences among patients who use drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. Read Story
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M.D./Ph.D student awarded prestigious NIH fellowship
Katelyn Stebbins received a competitive National Institutes of Health F30 award to fund her remaining neurobiology doctoral program and medical degree. Read Story
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From healthy development to cancer treatments, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists aim for impact
New Seale Innovation Fund projects fuel a broad spectrum of research focused on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, stress, brain development, and more. Read Story
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Fralin Biomedical Research Institute welcomes three new advisory board members
The new members bring experience in health care, policy and industry to bear in advocating for the research institute. Read Story
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Virginia Tech Giving Day 2024
Join Hokies around the world for a 24-hour celebration in support of Virginia Tech, starting at noon EST on Feb. 21! Help us advance health through science at Fralin Biomedical! Learn More
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Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
Feb. 15: The Human Milk Microbiome: A Paradigm Shift for Infant Health
Speaker: Michelle "Shelley" McGuire, Ph.D., director and professor, Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Idaho. Member, National Academy of Medicine.
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Thought-leaders share ideas from addiction recovery to zebrafish brains during Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series
The spring season of the lecture series, which began in January, features 21 experts sharing leading discoveries. Read Story
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Innovative research linking use of popular diabetes drugs and a curbed desire for alcohol consumption has dominated recent media interest. The study started by examining hundreds of social media posts by users of the diabetes drugs who described reduced cravings for alcohol.
- The study by Warren Bickel and Alexandra DiFeliceantonio connecting Ozempic and diabetes drugs like it to reduced desire for alcohol drew local, national, and international attention. Drugs.com, the Focus, and Health Day all picked up the news in the United States. Publications in Brazil, France and Portugal also carried news of the study. Locally, The Roanoke Times also covered the finding.
- Sora Shin's study identifying the connection in the brain between acute stress and the desire to eat high-fat comfort foods continued to garner attention, with the news of her discovery shared by Neuroscience News.
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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