Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

What happens inside your body when you exercise and why does it matter for long term health? 🏋️‍♂️

Join us on Thursday, June 4, for a free public lecture by renowned physician-scientist R. Sanders Williams, who will explore how physical activity sparks coordinated biological responses across the body that help protect against disease and promote health.

In his talk, "The Symphonic Biology of Exercise," Williams will reveal how exercise reshapes cells, tissues, and organ systems through an intricate network of biochemical signals, a process decades of his research have helped illuminate.

📍 Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
📅 Thursday, June 4
🎟️ Free and open to the public

Don't miss the final Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture of the 2025-26 season.

Triggering the 'symphonic biology' of exercise for better health Physician-scientist R. Sanders Williams of Duke University has worked across academia and industry exploring key questions in exercise medicine. The National Academy of Medicine member will deliver the season’s final Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture at the Fralin Biomedical Research Inst...

What if lung scarring could be reversed instead of simply slowed? 🫁

That's the question driving new research from Samar Antar, who recently received a Career Development Award from the American Heart Association to investigate new treatment possibilities for pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease that causes irreversible scarring in the lungs.

Her work focuses on connexin 43 (Cx43), a protein that helps cells communicate with one another. Early findings suggest that targeting this pathway could reduce the activity of the cells responsible for scar formation and improve lung function.

The award will help support continued research into therapies that could one day offer new hope for people living with pulmonary fibrosis.

See how this research is opening the door to potential treatments that go beyond managing symptoms and aim to reverse lung damage itself 👇

https://news.vt.edu/articles/2026/04/research_fralinbiomed_antarahacda.html

Researchers at Virginia Tech have identified a promising new strategy that could change how idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is treated. 🫁

The disease causes scar tissue to build up in the lungs, making breathing increasingly difficult. Current therapies can slow progression, but they cannot reverse the damage.

In a new preclinical study, scientists discovered that blocking two proteins known as ID1 and ID3 significantly reduced lung scarring and improved lung function across multiple experimental systems. In some cases, the effects were comparable to or stronger than existing antifibrotic drugs.

The research team combined analyses of human lung tissue with experimental models to better understand how these proteins drive fibrosis. Their findings could open the door to therapies designed not only to slow disease progression, but potentially reverse lung scarring altogether.

The study involved collaborations with researchers from several leading institutions, including Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Boston University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. 🤝

Discover how this research could help shape the future of pulmonary fibrosis treatment and bring new hope to patients facing the disease. Link in the comments.

For years, declining estrogen has been seen as the main driver of rising heart disease risk after menopause.

But new research from Virginia Tech suggests the story is more complex. 🧬

Scientists are examining how estrogen loss affects epigenetics — the system that controls when genes turn on and off — which may help explain increases in heart disease and metabolic conditions.

According to Sumita Mishra, these gene regulation changes could play a key role in cardiovascular health.

What if reducing risk after menopause depends on targeting gene activity, not just hormone levels? See what this research reveals. ⬇️

Scientists offer new explanation for the rise in heart disease risk after menopause Researchers say the increased risk of cardiovascular disease after menopause may stem not only from declining hormone levels, but also from how those changes influence gene activity.

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🎓 Huge congrats to our newest DONNUT Lab PhDs!

So proud of all your hard work and everything you’ve accomplished—we can’t wait to see what you do next 💙🍩

Once DONNUT, always DONNUT! Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

On Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Week: Can weight loss drugs help reduce alcohol use?

Alex DiFeliceantonio, Assistant Professor and Interim Co-director of the Center for Health Behaviors Research, looks into this.

https://bit.ly/ADeFeliceAM

In blood cancers, there’s a window before the disease emerges, sometimes spanning years or even decades, when it might be possible to see the cancer coming.

Sushree Sahoo wants to peer into that window and stop cancers there, before they start.

Read more about the work of the newest researcher to join our Cancer Research Center in D.C. →

Blood cancer researcher aims to stop the disease before it starts Sushree Sahoo, assistant professor in the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Cancer Research Center — D.C., studies the hidden window between genetic mutation and cancer, seeking ways to intervene before disease ever develops.