About 250 people will gather in Roanoke this week to discuss a topic that affects everyone: exercise.
The 20th International Biochemistry of Exercise Conference draws researchers from around the world to discuss recent advances in how and why exercise is as beneficial as it is, said Joshua Drake, assistant professor of molecular and cellular science in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise at Virginia Tech.
“This conference really is the genesis of a lot of conversations that lead to the discoveries that we so often take for granted,” Drake said.
Virginia Tech’s major push into biomedical sciences started in earnest in 2010 with the launch of what is now the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion.
Winning the bid to bring the conference to Southwest Virginia highlights how far the region’s research profile has grown in recent years. Both FBRI and Drake’s department are increasingly recognized for advances in exercise research, from basic understanding to clinical applications to medicine.
Zhen Yan, an exercise researcher with an international profile, has been on the FBRI at VTC campus for nearly four years and is director of the Center for Exercise Medicine Research.
Another line on his resume: vice chairman of the International Research Group on Biochemistry of Exercise. The group has presented the IBEC 17 times since 1968, at spots around the globe, starting with Brussels, Belgium, and including Boston, London, Sydney, Seoul, Stockholm and Beijing.
The conference hasn’t been back to the United States since 2000, when Little Rock, Arkansas, hosted it. FBRI Executive Director Michael Friedlander said Yan deserves credit for leading the effort against “some pretty stiff” competition to bring it here.
Virginia Tech submitted its bid to host the event in fall 2023. The leadership team presented its proposal to a steering committee before organizers announced at the last conference that FBRI at VTC would host the next gathering.
Yan’s research — he specializes in researching mitochondria, the power plant of cells — and his leadership on key exercise research journals give FBRI a high profile in the field, Friedlander said. The Center for Exercise Medicine Research’s team members, including Sarah Lessard and Sumita Mishra, have their own national and international profiles.
“We want to figure out how exercise can improve mitochondrial function, mitochondrial structure, and improve health,” Yan said.
Add the Rob Gourdie-led Center for Vascular and Heart Research and nutrition scientists, including Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, and Yan had a presentation that put FBRI, and Roanoke, over the top as a host, Friedlander said.
“We’re already on the national scene, but now this kind of cements it,” he said.
Yan grew up in China, wanting to be Usain Bolt while running track and playing volleyball. He instead became a surgeon, but his interest in exercise led him to the United States, where he has attained a master’s in exercise physiology and a PhD in physiology and cell biology. He came to FBRI from the University of Virginia.
“My vision is to focus on the question why exercise is so good in prevention of disease and promotion of health,” Yan said.
People know on a basic level that exercise is good, and they want to be healthy, but they don’t prioritize it over life’s other necessities, he said. Research has shown the importance of healthspan, the number of years a person is in good health. Yan and his colleagues are working to lengthen healthspan, which will increase the value of lives while saving money spent on medical treatment.
“So I think that is the value of scientists, to find out the holy grail of exercise benefit to health, and so that we value it every day, every minute, and that we think about it all the time, and that we practice it, not just preach it,” Yan said. “So I hope to be able to recruit, attract the best scientists to Roanoke to do this type of research.”
Organizers made an effort to include speakers from across the Mid-Atlantic region, where many of Virginia Tech’s research collaborators are located. Bringing in nearby scientists creates opportunities to strengthen partnerships and highlight regional research, Drake said.
Yan has attracted 250 attendees from around the world to discuss the latest knowledge in the field. Forty-two speakers are on the schedule. Participants are coming from 16 countries on five continents, Yan said.
He has heard some concerns expressed from people, either concerned or not, due to concerns about the United States’ current political climate, but he was not sure of specific numbers, as he had not conducted a formal survey.
“But nevertheless, many scientists from Australia, from Japan, from Korea, from even Copenhagen, Denmark” — where leaders are frequently engaged with the Trump administration over control of Iceland — “I think reflect that the quality of the conference is a big attraction for good scientists,” Yan said.
International travel to the U.S. has slowed in recent years because of a mix of visa delays, stricter immigration policies and shifting perceptions about entering the country. A renewed focus on immigration enforcement and restrictions has led to concerns about decreased travel, according to the Congressional Research Service. Incidents of tourists and other noncitizens being detained while traveling to the U.S., along with a proposed five-year social media review for travelers, may contribute to a decline in travel. Some countries have even adjusted travel advisories for their citizens considering travel to the U.S.
One researcher from China will join the conference virtually due to visa delays, Drake said.
The Trump administration has attempted to make historic funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the primary federal agency responsible for biomedical and public health research, but it has received pushback in federal courts and Congress.
Virginia Tech received $23.7 million in grant funding from NIH this year, compared to $53.9 million in 2025. In 2024, the institute secured $58.6 million for 152 awards. Even more funding is brought in through federal grants that have been reduced in recent years.
Virginia Tech’s total federally sponsored research expenditures exceeded $308 million in 2024.
In early 2025, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands noted the potential impact of funding loss in the U.S. Sands, who recently announced his intention to step down, wrote in an online letter that lack of funding will slow the pace of biomedical research, leading to lost lives.
“It will degrade the nation’s ability to compete in a global technology environment, threaten our national security, and impact the economies of the states and localities that host these institutions,” he wrote.
Drake also noted a national shift away from scientific research.
“We have a bit of a cultural moment where there’s some question around the validity of science and academic research in particular,” Drake said. “My advice would be to engage with it.”
While registration is open to anyone who is interested, the fees associated with attendance reach $500. The research grants that support the department at Virginia Tech cover the cost of entrance fees for students.
Having the conference close to home means the institution’s graduate students will be able to attend and present their own research, Drake said. He added that conferences like this offer important training opportunities for scientists, where students learn how to clearly communicate complex findings, answer questions in real time and engage with researchers from around the world.
“I tell my students all the time, in some ways doing the work in the lab is the easy part. Being able to effectively communicate that to a diverse audience so that they can appreciate why it’s important is the hard part and the most important part of their training,” Drake said.
Participants traveling to Southwest Virginia won’t simply see the Hotel Roanoke for three days and the FBRI campus for two more. The conference is offering free outdoor activities on Tuesday, including an electric bike ride or walking on the Roanoke River Greenway, a hike to Mill Mountain’s summit via the Star Trail — and an IBEC tradition, some fútbol at River’s Edge Park.
“We’re really trying to not only market, if you will, FBRI in this area, but also the whole city to the world,” Friedlander said. “So, I think it’s just another piece to try to get Roanoke out there to the big world in that regard.”
Regional tourism advocate Virginia’s Blue Ridge, using an industry-standard calculator through Destination International, predicts the conference participants will add $317,000 of direct spending into the region’s economy, said VBR Chief Strategist and Vice President Debora Wright. That spending will generate $19,220 for local tax coffers, according to the calculator.
All that remains is for weather that’s sunnier than last week’s, Friedlander said.
“I think going forward in the future, when they have the next meeting two years from now, wherever they decide to have it, people I think will remember Roanoke,” he said. “Hopefully … people take away beautiful memories of the mountains and greenery, and not just a bunch of rainy gray days.”
