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Collaborative Programs & Services

The LA CaTS Center has partnered with other programs and centers across the state to offer additional research services to LA CaTS Center members. Some programs may offer services at a discounted rate to LA CaTS members. Please continue to check back, as we are updating our list periodically. For questions regarding services offered by our collaborative programs, please contact the program or center directly.

REACHnet is a PCORI-funded clinical data research network (CDRN) designed to help Louisiana clinicians and researchers conduct robust comparative effectiveness research with integrated recruitment and data solutions. REACHnet supports all forms of clinical research, with a specific focus on pragmatic research, which integrates research activities into clinical workflow with minimal disruption to patients, providers, and health systems. REACHnet services include data requests, data linkage, research consulting, recruitment support, regulatory support, and stakeholder engagement.

More information: www.reachnet.org

The BRC is a NIH-funded dietary supplement research center, focused on botanicals and metabolic syndrome. The goal of the Center is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of botanicals in addressing the pathophysiologic mechanisms that lead to the development of insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. The Botanical Core facilitates the work of all BRC projects and cores by cultivating plants, isolating bioactives, and producing and studying botanical therapeutics.  The Integrative Biology Core provides state-of-the-art animal models, in vivo metabolic phenotyping and ex vivo proteomic and metabolomic profiling. To contact these cores, email botanical@pbrc.edu.

More information: http://botanical.pbrc.edu

COBREs support thematic multidisciplinary centers to augment and strengthen institutional research capacity by expanding and developing biomedical faculty research capability. COBRE promotes collaborative interactive efforts among researchers with complementary backgrounds, skills, and expertise; and to compete independently for external peer-reviewed center or program project grant support.

The mentees and junior faculty mentored under these programs are given priority status with the LA CaTS Center core services and resources.

COBRE Programs in Louisiana

Institution
Theme
PI/ Director
Pennington Biomedical Research Center Mentoring in Obesity and Diabetes Research in LA Thomas Gettys, PhD
Pennington Biomedical Research Center Metabolic Basis for Disease Jacqueline Stephens, PhD
LSU SVM Center for Lung Biology and Disease Samithamby Jey Jeyaseelan, DVM, PhD
LSU SVM Center for Pre-Clinical Cancer Research Rhonda Cardin, PhD
LSU Health in Shreveport Center for Applied Immunology and Pathological Processes Andrew Yurochko, PhD
LSU Health in Shreveport Center for Redox Biology and Cardiovascular Disease Chris Kevil, PhD
LSU Health in New Orleans (and Tulane HSC) Mentoring in Cardiovascular Biology Daniel Kapusta, PhD, FAHA
LSU Health in New Orleans Mentoring in Translational Research in LA Augusto Ochoa, MD
Tulane HSC Tulane COBRE for Clinical and Translational Research in Cardiometabolic Diseases Jiang He, MD, DSC, PhD
Tulane University Mentoring Research Excellence in Aging and Regenerative Medicine S. Michal Jazwinski, Ph.D.
LSU Health in New Orleans Center for Translational Viral Oncology (CTVO) Krzysztof Reiss, PhD

The IDeA program was established for the purpose of broadening the geographic distribution of NIH funding for biomedical and behavioral research. The objectives of INBRE program are to: 1) continue to build on the established multi-disciplinary research network with a scientific focus to strengthen the lead and partner institutions' biomedical research expertise and infrastructure; 2) build and increase the research base and capacity by providing support to faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at the participating institutions; 3) provide research opportunities for students from undergraduate institutions, community colleges and TCUs and serve as a "pipeline" for these students to continue in health research careers within IDeA states; 4) enhance science and technology knowledge of the state's workforce.

INBRE Program in Louisiana

Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN) 3 Cores:
Administration and Outreach Bioinformatics/Biocomputing
Molecular and Cell Biology
K. Gus Kousoulas, PhD

This Program focuses on the discovery and development of a wide range of drugs (especially repurposed and natural products) that affect multiple diseases. INLET offers expertise in assay development, screening, drug design and delivery, in vivo and in vitro models of cancer, pharmacology and toxicology, as well as early clinical development strategies for the discovery of new small molecule therapies. The INLET screening center is equipped with liquid handlers, robotic screening devices, and high content, real time, screening assay platforms such as Cellomics and the Essen Bioscience Incucyte.

More Information

The program provides bioinformatics solutions and services on a COST-RECOVERY or SHARED COST basis through its Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics Laboratory. We provide high quality; custom bioinformatics, computational genomics, statistical genetics and computational systems biology analysis support services and solutions to basic science, clinical and translational researchers and to our collaborating partners.

More information: http://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/bioinformatics/

The Pennington Biomedical NORC has a NIH-funded base and includes basic and clinical research addressing the most prominent causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States related to nutritionally induced chronic diseases, many of them linked to obesity. The NORC supports clinical investigation addressing the etiology of nutritionally induced chronic diseased across the entire age span, from gestational and perinatal development through childhood and adolescence, to young and middle-aged adults up to elderly individuals.  Pennington NORC’s platform includes three scientific Cores: a Molecular Mechanisms Core (genomics and cellular), very closely related to a Human Phenotyping Core (characterization of phenotypes predisposing to obesity and the metabolic syndrome and behavioral interventions to counteract those) and an Animal Models and Phenotyping Core.

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The ISPCTN is a component of the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program funded by the NIH. The goal of the ISPCTN is to provide medically underserved and rural populations with access to state-of-the-art clinical trials, apply findings from relevant pediatric cohort studies to children in IDeA state locations, and build pediatric research capacity at a national level. It also support professional development of faculty-level pediatricians and their support teams in the conduct of clinical trials research. Within Louisiana, a collaboration between Pennington Biomedical Research Center (Baton Rouge) and Tulane University School of Medicine (New Orleans) serves as an ISPCTN site, leveraging existing clinical research expertise in obesity, maternal-fetal health, asthma, neurodevelopment and birth outcomes. The objective of this program is to support a novel partnership between Pennington Biomedical and Tulane University, institutions with complementary expertise in pediatric health, capable of conducting a broad range of clinical trials.

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Local Contact: Daniel Hsia, MD, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Daniel.Hsia@pbrc.edu

N3C is building a centralized national data resource — the NCATS N3C Data Enclave — that the research community can use to study COVID-19 and identify potential treatments as the pandemic continues to evolve. Specifically, the N3C will enable the rapid collection and analysis of clinical, laboratory and diagnostic data from hospitals and health care plans. If successful, this approach will be applicable to other research questions and may serve as a model for addressing future public health emergencies.

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Questions and more information on how to access N3C, contact the LA CaTS Biomedical Informatics Core at Biomedinformatics@LACaTS.org.

LAUNCHED is a highly innovative training program with the long-term goal of increasing the success rate of underrepresented ethnic minority scientists competing for federal research funding in the fields of nutrition, obesity, and diabetes. Located in the Deep South, LAUNCHED is focusing on providing training to scientists in Louisiana and neighboring states.

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