11th season of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series launches Sept. 16

With topics ranging from addiction recovery to stem cell therapies, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC launches the 11th season of its Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series on Sept. 16.

The full slate features 29 experts sharing leading discoveries in cardiovascular science, cancer research, neuroscience, biomedical imaging, addiction, and health behaviors. 

The seminars are selected to be of particular interest to members of the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic communities, including graduate and medical students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff. The lecture series is divided into fall and spring seasons, with the first 10 scheduled from September through December, and will be held in-person at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. In addition, the lectures can be attended virtually through the research institute’s website. 

“Welcoming leading biomedical researchers who are working at the very boundaries of new innovation and discovery is a big part of the energy that surrounds the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and the entire health sciences and technology campus,” said Michael Friedlander, Virginia Tech’s vice president for health sciences and technology and executive director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.

The Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series was developed to serve as a forum for sharing the most contemporary insights in biomedical science by the nation’s thought leaders and technological innovators. “It is a key ingredient of the secret sauce that makes the highly interdisciplinary and interactive team science research enterprise so successful at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and we are delighted to share the energy with all of our colleagues,” Friedlander said.

“Through this program our scientists and trainees are exposed to and get to challenge and discuss some of the most advanced, and oftentimes controversial, ideas in biomedical and health science research,” Friedlander said. “The interactions that occur during the seminars 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 program has hosted 135 leaders in biomedical research from across the globe. Presentations are co-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 schedule for the first part of the program that runs in the fall follows, with each seminar starting at 11 a.m.:

• Sept. 16: “Regulation of Endothelial Cell Specialization,” Karen K. Hirschi, professor, department of cell biology, director, Developmental Genomics Center, University of Virginia
• Sept. 23: “Connectomics of Addiction Recovery,” Sarah Yip, associate professor, psychology division, Department of Psychiatry, director, Imaging and Psychopharmacology Lab, Yale University
• Sept. 30: “Exosome-Mediated Protein Intercellular Transport in The Healthy Brain and Neurological Disease,” Hollis Cline, Hahn professor and chair, Department of Neuroscience, Scripps Research Institute
• Oct. 7: “Opposing Activities of Chromatin Modifiers in Balancing Stem Cell Division, Differentiation, and Death,” Jamy Peng, associate member, Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital
• Oct. 14: “The Cyclical Nature of Food Reinforcement, Decision-Making, and Overeating,” Kyle S. Burger, associate professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• Oct. 21: “Connexin Mutants and Cataracts: Clues to Gap Junction Functions,” Eric Beyer, professor of pediatrics, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Chicago
• Oct. 28: “Reducing Nicotine in Cigarettes: Is it Time to Enable/Nudge/Push Smokers to Move Away From the Most Deadly Tobacco Products?” Eric C. Donny, professor, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University
• Nov. 18: “Copper Conducted Kinase Signaling in Cancer,” Donita Brady, Harrison McCrea Dickson and Clifford C. Baker presidential professor of cancer biology, University of Pennsylvania
• Dec. 2: “Mitochondria in Synaptic Plasticity, Gamma Oscillations, and Anxiety,” Zheng Li, Ph.D., chief, Section on Synapse Development and Plasticity, National Institute of Mental Health
• Dec. 9: “Electrophysiology of Basal Ganglia and Thalamus in Children Undergoing DBS for Dystonia,” Terence Sanger, professor of electrical engineering and computer science; chief scientific officer, Children’s Health of Orange County, University of California Irvine

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.