Intensive therapy approaches show benefits for infants and toddlers with cerebral palsy

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Filling a long-standing gap in clinical science, multi-institutional researchers led by Virginia Tech find good news when comparing movement therapies.

‘The doctors told my parents I would never walk and that I would never talk’

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Arden Grim suffered a stroke in utero and visited the Neuromotor Research Clinic for therapy as a toddler. Now, she’s back at the clinic as a summer undergraduate research fellow.

‘The doctors told my parents I would never walk and that I would never talk’

Arden Grim suffered a stroke in utero, and visited the Neuromotor Research Clinic for therapy multiple times as a child. Now she’s back at the clinic at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, but as summer undergraduate research fellow.

Former Neuromotor Research Clinic Patient Returns – as a Student Researcher

Defying Imagination, One Step at a Time

Born with cerebral palsy and severe global motor delays, JD Lofton faced challenges that his parents thought would last a lifetime. But everything changed when they discovered the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Neuromotor Research Clinic. Through the clinic’s groundbreaking ACQUIRE Therapy program, JD began making remarkable strides. Learn more about JD’s journey—and how innovative therapy is changing lives, one step at a time. https://fbri.vtc.vt.edu/research/research-centers/neuromotor.html

Intensive physical therapy effective for children with rare genetic mutation, Virginia Tech study finds

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Scientists at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC want to provide investigative targets for other researchers, a framework for therapists, and vital information for parents of children with rare CASK gene mutations.

Rare Disease Day brings worldwide attention to more than 7,000 rare diseases

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 10:00:00 -0500

Virginia Tech research into rare diseases — those that individually affect 200,000 or fewer but collectively touch 1 in 10 people in the U.S. — provides hope in identifying, treating, and supporting patients.

It’s the ‘thing in my life that shaped me the most,’ participant says of life-changing therapy

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 09:31:00 -0500

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 is celebrating 10 years of research into the therapy.

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 is celebrating 10 years of research into the therapy.

Moving forward: Neuroscientist explores movement, rehabilitation in public lecture

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 11:04:00 -0400

Motor learning expert and National Academy of Sciences member Amy Bastian will deliver the next Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture on Nov. 2 at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute.

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC: Growth of an innovator

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 14:33:00 -0400

Since its founding in 2010, the research institute has become a focal point for biomedical research across Virginia Tech. It now has more than 450 faculty, staff, and students in Roanoke and Washington, D.C., supporting research fueled by $173.7 million in external grants.

Therapy framework reveals promise for intensive pediatric rehabilitation for children with motor disabilities

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 12:58:00 -0400

Virginia Tech researchers with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have demonstrated that children with a wide range of diagnoses that affect their motor function improve after receiving intensive pediatric rehabilitation called ACQUIRE Therapy.

‘The right place’: Sisters with rare disorder find help

Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:00:00 -0500

Sisters with a very rare genetic mutation that affects brain development are benefitting from a form of intensive therapy being studied at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Neuromotor Research Clinic.

‘The right place’: Sisters with rare disorder find help

When Emily Burkhart’s daughter was diagnosed with a rare gene mutation, the family found help at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Neuromotor Research Clinic. When the seemingly impossible happened a second time with her sister, they knew where to turn.

Neuromotor Research Clinic: Changing Lives

Sophie Stiglitz was born with a genetic disorder that limits brain development in the areas that facilitate movement and communication. Doctors informed her parents, Joe and Emily, that their daughter may never walk or talk. After her second therapy session with the Neuromotor Research Clinic at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Sophie has defied all odds. To support the Neuromotor Research Clinic or learn more about their research, please visit https://fralinbiomed.info/nrcdonate.

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute occupational therapists train colleagues, treat children in Morocco clinic

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 10:18:00 -0500

Kelsey Burke and Megan Price, occupational therapists in the Neuromotor Research Clinic at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, took a personal volunteer trip to Morocco with a humanitarian group last year. They educated therapists and parents in pediatric therapy techniques.

Rare disease research gives families hope, ‘vital’ to advancing medicine

Mon, 28 Feb 2022 10:01:00 -0500

Rare diseases afflict 300 million people worldwide. Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC researchers are bridging a gap in scientific knowledge by studying some of the diseases that together add up to a formidable public health challenge. Feb. 28 marks the 14th international Rare Disease Day.

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute occupational therapists train colleagues, treat children in Morocco clinic

Large doses of intensive therapy better for children with cerebral palsy, Virginia Tech scientists, partners find

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 00:01:00 -0400

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, shows that higher doses of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy – 20 three-hour sessions over four weeks – yield significant and lasting improvement in use of their arms and hands, especially in everyday functional activities.

Scientists say active early learning shapes the adult brain

Mon, 31 May 2021 10:14:00 -0400

Through the Abecedarian Project, an early education, randomized controlled trial that has followed children since 1971, Virginia Tech researchers, including Craig Ramey, Sharon Landesman Ramey, and Read Montague, revealed new discoveries about brain structure that have continued through decades.

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute graduate student awarded NIH Fellowship to examine balance, walking in children with cerebral palsy

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 11:02:00 -0500

Hassan Farah, a Virginia Tech translational biology, medicine, and health graduate student, has been awarded a $98,000 National Institutes of Health grant that will fund his remaining predoctoral research. Farah is studying the limb biomechanics, joint movements, and loading in children with cerebral palsy.

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, partners pioneer nation’s first pediatric rehabilitation resource center

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:30:00 -0400

Research partners across three institutions are opening the nation’s first and only resource center, known as C-PROGRESS, dedicated to promoting clinical trials research in the rapidly expanding field of pediatric rehabilitation.

Parents say baby with rare condition makes progress after intensive therapy at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion

Evie was at her six-week-old checkup near Dublin, Ireland, when doctors noticed her head was not growing as fast as it should. Five months later, doctors diagnosed her with a rare genetic disorder – a form of microcephaly caused by a mutation in a gene called CASK. Doctors said her condition was only reported in only 53 females worldwide, and it was associated with insurmountable developmental problems.

From those beginnings, Evie’s parents Emma Nolan and Keith Purdy embarked on a journey that would take them from their home in Ireland to talk with Virginia Tech scientists at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Neuromotor Research Clinic in Roanoke, Virginia. They met Stephanie Deluca, co-director of the Neuromotor Research Clinic, and occupational therapist Megan Price. Together, the group would prove a lot of people wrong about how much Evie really could accomplish.

Virginia Tech faculty receive top honors from the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:00:00 -0500

Elected by their peers and representing a broad range of AAAS “sections,” including statistics, neuroscience, engineering, psychology, and geology/geography, the Virginia Tech professors are among 443 newly elected scholars.

Welcome to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is an exciting place to research, train, and work. Established in 2010, the research institute is doubling in size and is actively recruiting 20-25 new core research teams to join the Virginia Tech Health Sciences Campus in Roanoke, Virginia. For more information about the research institute and employment opportunities, please visit: www.research.vtc.vt.edu

Nation’s first clinical trial for infant stroke begins at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 15:20:00 -0400

Strokes are devastating events often associated with people over 65. But large numbers of infants have strokes, too. Now, in the nation’s first multicenter pediatric stroke recovery trial, researchers and clinicians from 12 sites across the United States, including the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, will evaluate a new approach.=https://video.vt.edu/media/Nation%E2%80%99s+first+clinical+trial+for+infant+stroke+begins+at+Fralin+Biomedical/1_gs5rr4b0

Nation’s first clinical trial for rehabilitating infant stroke victims to begin

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 22:14:00 -0400

Called I-ACQUIRE, the Phase III clinic trial will examine the effectiveness of a pediatric therapy to increase upper extremity skills, gross motor development, and cognition in 240 children nationwide who experienced strokes when they were under 4 weeks old.

Nation’s first clinical trial for infant stroke begins at Fralin Biomedical

VTC School of Medicine names Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Stephanie DeLuca as 2019 Outstanding Research Mentor

Tue, 05 Mar 2019 10:54:00 -0500

DeLuca, a developmental psychologist who also holds faculty appointments in the VTCSOM and the Virginia Tech College of Science, has been a Fralin Biomedical Research Institute faculty member for six years. She develops neurorehabilitation treatment techniques for both children and adults.

VTCRI researcher, VTCSOM student team up to teach innovative treatment to Vietnamese therapists

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 00:00:00 -0400

The therapy is based on studies of the effects of prolonged disuse by parts of the brain that may occur as a result of cerebral palsy or after stroke.

VTCRI researchers join forces to improve life for children with genetic disorder

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 00:00:00 -0400

The accomplishments of three girls who received intensive therapy based on innovative pediatric neurorehabilitation research at the VTCRI have been documented in a report published in BMC Research Notes.

Tags

Intensive therapy approaches show benefits for infants and toddlers with cerebral palsy

‘The doctors told my parents I would never walk and that I would never talk’

‘The doctors told my parents I would never walk and that I would never talk’

Former Neuromotor Research Clinic Patient Returns – as a Student Researcher

Defying Imagination, One Step at a Time

Intensive physical therapy effective for children with rare genetic mutation, Virginia Tech study finds

Rare Disease Day brings worldwide attention to more than 7,000 rare diseases

It’s the ‘thing in my life that shaped me the most,’ participant says of life-changing therapy

It’s the ‘thing in my life that shaped me the most,’ participant says of life-changing therapy

Moving forward: Neuroscientist explores movement, rehabilitation in public lecture

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC: Growth of an innovator

Therapy framework reveals promise for intensive pediatric rehabilitation for children with motor disabilities

‘The right place’: Sisters with rare disorder find help

‘The right place’: Sisters with rare disorder find help

Neuromotor Research Clinic: Changing Lives

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute occupational therapists train colleagues, treat children in Morocco clinic

Rare disease research gives families hope, ‘vital’ to advancing medicine

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute occupational therapists train colleagues, treat children in Morocco clinic

Large doses of intensive therapy better for children with cerebral palsy, Virginia Tech scientists, partners find

Scientists say active early learning shapes the adult brain

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute graduate student awarded NIH Fellowship to examine balance, walking in children with cerebral palsy

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, partners pioneer nation’s first pediatric rehabilitation resource center

Parents say baby with rare condition makes progress after intensive therapy at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion

Virginia Tech faculty receive top honors from the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Welcome to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

Nation’s first clinical trial for infant stroke begins at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC

Nation’s first clinical trial for rehabilitating infant stroke victims to begin

Nation’s first clinical trial for infant stroke begins at Fralin Biomedical

VTC School of Medicine names Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Stephanie DeLuca as 2019 Outstanding Research Mentor

VTCRI researcher, VTCSOM student team up to teach innovative treatment to Vietnamese therapists

VTCRI researchers join forces to improve life for children with genetic disorder