Fralin Life Science Institute

The past year has seen significant changes in the life sciences at Virginia Tech that resulted in the merger of
the Institute for Biomedical and Public Health Sciences and the Fralin Biotechnology Center. Dr. Dennis Dean, a
long-time leader in life science at Virginia Tech, was chosen to guide the newly formed Fralin Life Science Institute.

The Fralin Biotechnology Center will remain the flagship facility for life science research at Virginia Tech, and the Commonwealth Research Initiative, formerly managed by IBPHS, will continue to provide significant seed funding and support for life science research at the University. To assist in the management of the new Institute, the position of Assistant Director, Administration and Finance, was created and filled, thereby allowing the Director to focus on university-wide initiatives.

The broad charter of the Fralin Life Science Institute is to provide leadership in the life sciences through the support of faculty and student research and outreach. An interdisciplinary research center, Fralin will bring scientists from different disciplines together under one umbrella to solve some of biology's more complex challenges. Fralin will continue its legacy of leadership in the development and support of scientific minds from pre-college through undergraduate and graduate education to collegiate faculty, as well as support the creation of successful scientific teams throughout the university.

The specific mission will involve partnering with the university’s colleges and departments to promote the best team science. To this end, equipment infrastructure investments will serve as interdisciplinary research incubators that are closely tied to faculty recruitment and graduate student training. Fralin will also promote interdisciplinary research through recognition of established faculty that are already engaged in team science and will accomplish this by implementation of a Fralin Life Science Institute Senior Fellow program. The recruitment of highly talented graduate students is also critical to our success, and we will continue to offer quality research opportunities to undergraduates and high school students. To this end, Fralin has identified and embarked on a number of strategic research initiatives in the areas of Vector-borne disease, Molecular Plant Sciences, Infectious Disease, and Metabolic Syndromes.

The goals of the Institute are to invest in equipment, laboratory space and faculty in the selected research areas; attract and retain the highest quality graduate students in partnership with academic departments; initiate programs to honor faculty; support research and educational programs to reach out to developing school-age and undergraduate life science students; and increase the capacity and reputation of VT in life science innovation and research

In addition to the merger, the 2007 – 2008 year is significant for the startup of the BSL-3 suite and major faculty changes resulting in three faculty moving from Fralin Biotechnology Center to Life Sciences I, and four new faculty moving into Fralin.

The new additions to the Fralin Life Science Institute have strengthened its commitment to becoming a premiere infectious/vector-borne disease research institute. The vector-borne group now consists of three established faculty (Tu, Adelman, and Myles) and a fourth (Sharakhov) who moved to Fralin from Latham this summer. Also added late spring and early summer are Monica Ponder and Kathleen Alexander. The following table shows the makeup of the resident Fralin faculty, their home departments and a thumbnail description of their research focus. The second table shows the resident faculty who left Fralin this year for Life Sciences I.

Fralin Resident Faculty 2007 - 2008

Faculty Moving from Fralin to Life Sciences I in 2007 -2008