The Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech (formerly the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute) is a research organization specializing in bioinformatics, computational biology, and systems biology. The institute has more than 250 personnel, including over 50 tenured and research faculty. Research at the institute involves collaboration in diverse disciplines such as mathematics, computer science, biology, plant pathology, biochemistry, systems biology, statistics, economics, synthetic biology and medicine. The institute develops -omic and bioinformatic tools and databases that can be applied to the study of human, animal and plant diseases as well as the discovery of new vaccine, drug and diagnostic targets. The institute's programs are supported by a variety of government and private agencies including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Energy. Since inception, the Biocomplexity Institute has received over $179 million in extramural support. It has a research portfolio totaling $68 million in grants and contracts. The institute's executive director was Chris Barrett. In 2019, the institute was absorbed into the Fralin Institute of Life Sciences at Virginia Tech after many faculty members, including Dr. Barrett, were hired away to form the Biocomplexity Institute and Initiative of the University of Virginia. History The institute opened in July 2000 in space in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center; it was hosted briefly in Building XI, then Building X, until it moved to Building XV in 2002, which was designed to host the institute. In January 2005, it moved into a new building on the main Virginia Tech's campus, called "Bioinformatics Facility Phase I and II", but retained its existing space in the CRC. In 2011, the institute moved its National Capital Region office into the Virginia Tech building in Arlington, Virginia. In 2015, the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute was quietly renamed and rebranded as the "Biocomplexity Institute". In November 2016, the home of the institute on Virginia Tech's main campus was dedicated as Steger Hall, after former Virginia Tech president Charles Steger. Major research divisions The Advanced Computing and Informatics Laboratories is dedicated to "Policy Informatics", including the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory. It pursues research and development in interaction-based modeling, simulation, and associated analysis, experimental design, and decision support tools for understanding large biological, information, social, and technological systems. It includes the Comprehensive National Incident Management System project for developing a system to provide the United States military with