Lecture series features experts in addiction research, cardiovascular science, child development, metabolic disease

With a range of topics from nicotine regulation to metabolic disease to precision medicine, the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC will launch the 12th season of its Pioneers in Biomedical Research Seminar Series on Sept. 8.

The seminars are geared toward members of the Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic biomedical and health sciences research communities, including graduate and medical students, undergraduates, faculty, and staff. The lecture series is divided into fall and spring seasons, with the first 11 speakers scheduled from September through December.

Nine of the fall seminars will be held at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke. This year marks an expansion to the institute’s Washington, D.C., laboratories, where two of the fall seminars will be hosted at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus. All lectures are in-person but can also can be attended virtually through the institute’s website. 

“Last year more than 3,000 people engaged in person and virtually with biomedical research pioneers who are leaders in biomedical and health science innovation. The energy in the room and the ideas shared are part of the atmosphere of inquiry, innovation, and discovery that drives 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 serves as a forum for sharing new discoveries and insights in biomedical science from thought leaders and technological innovators. 

“Constantly seeking out new ideas and engaging in discussions on contemporary developments characterizes the entire research enterprise for learners at all stages from undergraduates to senior faculty at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute,” Friedlander said. 

Since it began in 2012, the program has hosted 156 leaders in biomedical research. 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, the Center for Neurobiology Research, and the Center for Exercise Medicine Research. Speakers interact with scientists and trainees over a two-day visit.

The schedule through Dec.15 is as follows, with each seminar starting at 11 a.m.:

• Sept. 8: “Reducing the Harms from Tobacco Through Nicotine Regulation,” Tracy Smith, associate professor, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Medical University of South Carolina
• Sept. 22: “Sustaining Power: Building Energy Networks in Striated Muscles,” Brian Glancy, senior investigator, Muscle Energetics Laboratory, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
• Sept. 29: “Mitochondrial Ion Stress in Neurodegeneration,” Xinnan Wang, associate professor, neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Oct. 6: “Precision Medicine in Cardiac Electrophysiology,” Jennifer Silva, professor, pediatrics and pediatric cardiology, director of pediatric electrophysiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Jonathan Silva, professor, biomedical engineering and computer science and engineering, McKelvey School of Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis
• Oct. 20: “Adolescent Alcohol, Behavioral Flexibility, And Excitatory/Inhibitory Balance in Control Circuitry,” Charlotte Boettiger, professor, psychology and neuroscience, director, Behavioral and Integrative Neuroscience Program, Psychology and Neuroscience Department, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine
• Nov. 3: “Biobehavioral Synchrony and The Foundations of Resilience; From Science to Clinic,” Ruth Feldman, Simms-Mann Professor of Developmental Social Neuroscience, Reichman University, Yale Child Study Center
• Nov. 10, Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus: "The Blood-Tumor Barrier: New Perspectives on Drug Delivery and Clinical Relevance," Sadhana Jackson, investigator, developmental therapeutics and pharmacology unit, surgical neurology branch, National Institute of Neurological Discorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health
• Nov. 17: “Viewing Metabolic Disease from a Mitochondrial Bioenergetics Perspective,” Darrell Neufer, professor, department of physiology, director, East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute, East Carolina University
• Dec. 1: “Exploring the Interplay Between Metabolic and Epigenetic Signaling Pathways to Regulate Vascular Remodeling,” Sébastien Bonnet, professor, department of medicine, director, Canadian Research Chair in Translational Research in Pulmonary and Vascular Diseases, University of Laval
• Dec. 8, Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus: TBD, Daniel Dominguez, assistant professor, pharmacology, Univeristy of North Carolina School of Medicine
• Dec. 15: “The Role of the Hippocampal Projection to the Prefrontal Cortex in Social Memory and its Dysfunction in Rett Syndrome,” Lucas Pozzo-Miller, professor, neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute also hosts a number of other academic seminars and public events, including the Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture Series, Brain School, and co-hosts the Timothy A. Johnson Medical Scholar Lecture Series with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.