Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC tackles rare diseases
February 28 is national Rare Disease Day. The lights on Roanoke's Wells Fargo Tower will chance colors to draw attention to rare disease, while researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC chip away at answers to diseases that impact up to 30 million Americans.
Dr. Robert Gourdie named Roanoke Entrepreneur of the Year
Junior Achievement of Southwest Virginia is awarding the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award to Dr. Robert Gourdie at the Fralin Biomedical Institute at VTC for his groundbreaking research on how to use tiny particles in milk to deliver medicine in the body.
$1 million research grant to look at impact of pandemic on Virginia public schools
Virginiaโs getting nearly $1 million to study how the pandemic has impacted public school students and teachers. Researchers with the Virginia Department of Education and the University of Virginia will use the federal grant to look at pre-pandemic and post-pandemic trends, like grades, absenteeism and teacher retention. The study will last three years and follow students during that time. The goal is to create evidence-based policy reports so schools know how to help students moving forward. Researchers will also examine the effectiveness of school reopening and recovery plans, as well as the impact on higher education.
Expert says 1 in 3 adults struggle to get sufficient amount of sleep
Getting enough sleep is vital for overall health, but experts say a significant number of Americans are falling short. In fact, that number shows about 1 in 3 adults are struggling to get a consistent 6 hours of sleep. Many are actually getting less than that each night. One sleep expert says the biggest mistake people make is not allowing enough buffer time between activities and bedtime. She says you need to send physical messages to the brain that itโs time to switch gears.
Advocacy group aims to end involuntary homelessness by 2035
Ending involuntary homelessness by 2035 is the goal for one advocacy group. On Friday, researchers focused on the factors that go into homelessness, particularly for children. Itโs associated with increased secondary educational attainment. Itโs associated with prevention of early pregnancy and parenthood,โ said Dr. Amy Dworsky with the University of Chicago. According to the group, Times for Homes, a fifth of children live in poverty in America.
Virginia Tech, Harvard researchers studying most effective way to stop spread of COVID-19
BLACKSBURG, Va. A new research study is underway by a Virginia Tech professor in collaboration with researchers at Harvard. The results show that individual quarantines will be the best defense against future outbreaks of COVID-19. They used mathematical models to study how effective contact tracing is, using data about how the virus acts and how quickly it spreads. Instead of just monitoring your symptoms and going about your daily life if youve come in contact with someone whos infected, researchers found that isolation and quarantine are the best ways to stop the spread: 96% effective. As a comparison, just monitoring your symptoms, they found, is only 12% effective at controlling the spread of COVID-19.