February 2024 Inside the Institute Newsletter

A Message from Rob McCarley
Executive Director, The Fralin Life Sciences Institute

As we approach a period of time in popular Western culture focused on team activities, I want to draw attention to some of the players in the Institute who have come together on the life sciences court in the research arena and are providing us with a great deal of excitement. Their commitment to transdisciplinary research, education, and engagement—underpinned by partnerships and team science—is only outshone by the synergistic "wins" emanating from their integrated efforts.

As pointed out by Morss and colleagues, interdisciplinary research across the entire translational spectrum requires mutual respect and "full intellectual participation by each contributing field." Such multipartite partnerships between Institute affiliates (and beyond) are taking the life sciences at Virginia Tech to unexplored destinations and frontier intellectual areas, yielding unprecedented discoveries, and creating new knowledge.

We are pleased to share with you vignettes of new people and roles in the Institute, as well as a sampling of recent happenings. Notable are the tremendously successful Institute activities at President Sands' State of the University address highlighting the contributions of the university's four investment institutes; I want to thank all who helped elevate the Fralin Life Sciences Institute stature at this venue. See photo below of stakeholders at the State of the University event, proudly wearing their FLSI "jerseys."

Our newsletter is also more predictable and more exciting than the road to the Final Four. Yet again, the Institute players are consistently hitting the points, from all over the life sciences court.

Let’s go Hokies, and let’s go FLSI!