Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC was already growing rapidly when last fall’s transformational gift from the Red Gates Foundation added an important new shot of momentum, expanding our plans for recruiting researchers working in disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
I’m grateful to the faculty and staff who served on multiple search committees for new faculty research team leader positions, reviewing hundreds of applications and interviewing multiple finalist candidates.
I’m pleased to report that we have successfully recruited eight outstanding new primary faculty, six of whom will be based in Roanoke, one at the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C., and one with programs in both locations. In keeping with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s strong ties to colleges across Virginia Tech, these new faculty will have tenure homes in the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the colleges of agriculture and life sciences, engineering, and science.
- Sumita Mishra, who started October 2023, joins the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Center for Exercise Medicine Research, where her research focus is on molecular signaling perturbations associated with cardiometabolic disorders such as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
- Meike van der Heijden, who started in January 2024, joins the research institute’s Center for Neurobiology Research, where she will examine the development of the brain’s cerebellum in health and developmental disorders.
- Roberta Freitas-Lemos, who will become part of both the FBRI Center for Health Behaviors Research and FBRI Cancer Research Center (Roanoke) in April 2024, conducts research into tax and regulatory proposals and their experimental impact on cancer health disparities.
- Cheng-Chia “Fred” Wu, who begins in June 2024, will be part the FBRI Cancer Research Centers in both Washington, D.C., and Roanoke, where he will conduct research on the use of low-intensity focused ultrasound in the treatment of pediatric brain tumors.
- Chris Hourigan, who will begin in April 2024 as the director of the FBRI Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C., studies the predictability of recurrence of acute myeloid leukemia in patients in remission.
- Sarah Lessard, who will start in July 2024, will join the FBRI Center for Exercise Medicine Research. She studies metabolites derived from gut bacteria and their impact on metabolic health and exercise response in models of metabolic disease.
- DaeYong Lee will join the FBRI Cancer Research Center (Roanoke) in July 2024, where he brings his expertise in engineering precision biomaterials for enhanced cancer immunotherapy.
- Ryan Purcell will join both the FBRI Center for Neurobiology Research and the FBRI Center for Human Neuroscience Research in August 2024. His research focus is the neurobiology of and role of mitochondria in schizophrenia risk variants.
Please join me in welcoming this impressive incoming class of new research team leaders to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.
Yours truly 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
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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Unveiling a hidden threat: Researchers show viral infections pose early heart risks
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists are challenging assumptions and opening a new window to help people with cardiac infections. Read Story
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Brain School 2024: The Neuroscience of Cravings
The annual brain awareness outreach campaign at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute drew large crowds in person and online to learn about neuroscience research. Watch Video Learn more
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Jennifer Munson inducted into American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows
The biomedical engineer was nominated and elected by her peers for creating new ways to target cancer and brain disease. Read Story
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Aligning medicine, policy and innovation: M.D.+Ph.D. student named Society for Neuroscience Policy ambassador
Policy ambassadors are chosen based on their commitment to scientific advocacy and leadership. Read Story
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Two Fralin Biomedical Research Institute postdoctoral associates awarded American Heart Association fellowships
The awards will help Karthi Sreedevi and Samar Antar advance their academic careers while conducting research related to cardiovascular disease. Read Story
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James R. Carter Sr. Memorial Awards support Alzheimer's and dementia research
By studying how mitochondria support neuronal function important for memory formation and how the brain's blood vessels respond to changes in blood flow and oxygenation, Mikel Cawley and Hanaa Abdelazim hope to advance research into degenerative brain diseases. Read Story
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Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture
5:30 p.m. April 11: What is Alzheimer's Disease and Can We Prevent It?
Speaker: Kristine Yaffe, M.D., Director, Center for Population Brain Health, University of California, San Francisco. Member, National Academy of Medicine.
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Discoveries about the brain and the heart by Read Montague and James Smyth respctively fueled news coverage in the United States and abroad. Locally, the research institute's annual recognition of Rare Disease Day captured media attention, while a discovery and National Institutes of Health grant award for a graduate student in Scott Johnstone's lab was covered around the region.
- Research led by Read Montague revealed a previously unknown neurochemical mechanism for a well-known human tendency to make decisions based on human contact. News of the discovery was picked up in the United States by Earth.com, Futurity, and MSN.com, while outlets in places including Algeria and Italy also carried the news.
- James Smyth’s finding that sometimes fatal viruses affect the heart differently than previously thought also caught world-wide attention, such as in the Italian version of Huffington Post, Popular Science Italy, and the French publication Boursorama. In the U.S., MSN.com and many others carried the news.
- The research institute geared up its annual recognition of International Rare Disease Day by coordinating the lighting of the Wells Fargo Tower in Downtown Roanoke in the day’s trademark pink, blue, purple, and green colors, and by highlighting the work of our investigators on numerous rare diseases. Executive Director Michael Friedlander was interviewed by WDBJ TV, and The Roanoke Times carried a guest commentary he penned.
- Scott Johnstone’s vascular research recently led to a recognition that the typical way in which veins are stored prior to heart bypass surgery could be compromising the vein’s ability to heal. It was Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health doctoral candidate Meghan Sedovy who first spotted the problem, which led to a study with partners at Carilion Clinic identifying a better way to store the veins. Sedovy’s role in the process – and her recent $101,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health – were spotlighted by both WTVR TV in Richmond and WSLS TV in Roanoke.
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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