Tenth season of Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series launches Sept. 3

With topics ranging from addiction, autism, and obesity to 3D silicon brains and the world’s fastest, deepest penetrating camera, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC launches the 10th season of its Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series on Sept. 3.

The slate features 26 leaders from the frontiers of cardiovascular science, cancer research, neuroscience, biomedical imaging and health behaviors.

After an entirely virtual season last year, many events in this year’s series, which runs through April, are anticipated to be in-person presentations at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. In person attendees must exercise all appropriate COVID-19 safety measures. The seminars are offered primarily for researchers but are also open to all members of the Virginia Tech Carilion community including graduate and medical students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff. Anyone can attend the lectures virtually through the research institute’s website.

“The Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series has been and continues to be foundational to the research institute’s mission to make major scientific advances that improve health,” said Michael Friedlander, Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology and executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. “Through these lectures by investigators on the vanguard of biomedical science, our scientists and trainees are exposed to some of the most innovative contemporary ideas in biomedical and health science research. The interactions that occur during the lectures and the many meetings that occur over a two-day period between the speakers and the faculty, students, and staff inspire our own innovations and collaborations right here at Virginia Tech.”

Since it began in 2012, the series has presented 109 leaders in biomedical research from across the world. Each presentation is sponsored by one or more of the institute’s research centers or focus areas, including the Addiction Recovery and Research Center; the Center for Vascular and Heart Research; the Cancer Research Group; the Center for Human Neuroscience Research; the Center for Health Behaviors Research; and the Center for Neurobiology Research.

The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute also hosts the Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series, Brain School, international conferences, and the Timothy A. Johnson Medical Scholar Lecture Series.

Here is the schedule for this year’s Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series. Lectures that are virtual only are noted. All seminars will be streamed live via Zoom, and webcast live through the research institute’s website.

• “Cross-Organ Communication Through Lipid Signaling,” by Judith Simcox, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Sept. 3, 2021.
• “Pathways to Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder,” by Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.D., Regents’ Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico, on Sept. 10, 2021. This is a virtual presentation.
• “The Future of Artificial Intelligence: A 3D Silicon Brain,” by Kwabena Boahen, Ph.D., professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and investigator at the Bio-X Institute and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, on Sept. 17, 2021. This is a virtual presentation.
• “Src Inhibitory Peptides Based on Connexin43 as a Promising Therapy Against Glioblastoma,” by Arantxa Tabernero, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Institute of Neuroscience Castilla Y León, University of Salamanca, Spain, on Oct. 1, 2021.
• “When Your Heart Skips More Than a Beat: Connexin Hemichannels in Cardiac Pathology,” by Jorge Contreras, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and membrane biology at UC Davis School of Medicine, on Oct. 8, 2021.
  
• “Dopamine Circuits in Reward and Aversion,” by Stephan Lammel, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology at Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, on Oct. 15, 2021. This is a virtual presentation.
• “Central Pattern Generation and Central Pain Suppression Circuits,” by Fan Wang, Ph.D., professor of brain and cognitive sciences and investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Oct. 22, 2021. This is a virtual presentation.
  
• “Autism, Face Perception, and the Amygdala,” by Ralph Adolphs, Ph.D., Bren Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology, and director of the Brain Imaging Center, California Institute of Technology, on Nov. 12, 2021.
• “Dissecting Toxicities of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors,” by Douglas Johnson, M.D., MSCI, professor of medicine and clinical director of the melanoma program at the Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, on Nov. 19, 2021. This is a virtual presentation.
• “Basic Behavioral Science Research to Enhance Health Equity,” by Chanita Hughes-Halbert, Ph.D., professor of population and public health sciences and vice chair for research, and associate director for cancer equity, Norris Comprehensive Care Center, University of Southern California, on Dec. 3, 2021.
• “Development of Cardiac Biorhythmicity,” by Michael Bressan, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell biology and physiology at the McAllister Heart Institute, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, on Dec. 10, 2021.
• “Navigating Abstract Spaces,” by Daniela Schiller, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, on Dec. 17, 2021.
• “Toward Clinical Utility of Neuroimaging,” by Sarah Yip, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and child study director at Yale Imaging and Psychopharmacology, Yale School of Medicine, on Jan. 14, 2022.
• “Mechanisms of Progenitor Dynamics and Neuronal Wiring During Cerebral Cortical Development,” by Eva Anton, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and physiology at the UNC School of Medicine, on Jan. 21, 2022.
• “Estradiol Modulates the Brain Niche to Promote Brain Metastases,” by Diana Cittelly, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, on Jan. 28, 2022.
• “World's Deepest-Penetration and Fastest Optical Cameras: Photoacoustic Tomography and Compressed Ultrafast Photography,” by Lihong Wang, Ph.D., Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, on Feb. 4. 2022. This is a virtual presentation.
• “Regulation of Endothelial Cell Specialization,” by Karen K. Hirschi, Ph.D., director of the Developmental Genomics Center and professor of cell biology at the University of Virginia, on Feb. 11, 2022.
• “Inter-Organelle Communication Pathways and Dynamics Revealed by Imaging,” by Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Ph.D., interim head of 4D Cellular Physiology at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus, on Feb. 18, 2022. This is a virtual presentation.
• “Why Did I Eat That? Alterations in Brain and Behavior Contributing to Obesity,” by Carrie Ferrario, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology at the University of Michigan, on March 4, 2022.
• “Targeting PIK3CA Mutant Cancers,” by Zhenghe J. Wang, Ph.D., Dale H. Cowan and Ruth Goodman Blum Professor of Cancer Research at the Comprehensive Care Center, Case Western Reserve University, on March 11, 2022.
• “Regulation of Craving, Mindfulness, and CBT: From Neural Mechanisms to Treatment Development,” by Hedy Kober, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and psychology and director of the Clinical & Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Yale University School of Medicine, on March 18, 2022.
• “Programming and Reprogramming: What Does It Take to Make a Cardiomyocyte?” by Li Qian, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology and biology and director of the McAllister Heart Institute, UNC School of Medicine, on March 25, 2022.
• “Copper Conducted Kinase Signaling in Cancer,” by Donita Brady, Ph.D., Harrison McCrea Dickson, M.D., and Clifford C. Baker, M.D., Presidential Associate Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, and associate investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, on April 1, 2022.
• “Neural Circuits for Motivation and Reward,” by Garret Stuber, Ph.D., professor in the Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain, and Emotion at the University of Washington, on April 8, 2022.
• “Connexin Mutants and Cataracts – Clues to Gap Junction Functions,” by Eric Beyer, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, hematology, and oncology at the University of Chicago, on April 22, 2022.
• “How Early-Life Experiences Shape Our Brain: Signals, Synapses, Circuits, and Behaviors,” by Tallie Z. Baram, M.D., Ph.D., Bren and Danette Shepard Professor of Neurological Sciences, Pediatrics, Anatomy & Neurobiology, and Neurology, and director of the Conte Center @ UCI, University of California-Irvine, on April 29, 2022.

For more information about the Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series and how to attend virtually or in person, please visit the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s website.