2022 Translational Science Showcased LA CaTS Scholars' Research

Special acknowledgement given to our Roadmap Scholars and Professional Development Core for attending the 2022 Translational Science (ACTS) Meeting on April 20-22nd in Chicago, Illinois.

Louisiana COVID Publications Break 1000!

LA CaTS Announces New Monthly Louisiana Lagniappe Series

The LA CaTS Center Professional Development Core is introducing the new “Louisiana Lagniappe Series” beginning May 2022 on Zoom. Each month will feature a 30 minute talk from researchers and early career scientists in Louisiana, showcasing their work on a variety of chronic disease and health-related topics.

LA CaTS Scholar Dr. Robert Newton’s Community Engagement Work Highlighted

Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation highlights Dr. Robert Newton's Community Engagement work in the monthly snapshot.

LA CaTS 2022 Professional Development Plenary Talk

Plenary talk on “Racial Inequities in Health: What We Know and What We Think We Know” by Dr. Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, Dean and Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Health Equity, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

LA CaTS Announces Level 3 Research Coordinator's Training on May 20, 2022

The LA CaTS Clinical Research Resources Team announced the next Level 3 Research Coordinator Training, planned for Friday, May 20th from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. This event will be person at Tulane School of Medicine. All LA CaTS institutions are invited to attend. There will be no cost to attend the training and all attendees will receive a certificate of completion.

LA CaTS Announces Level 2 Research Coordinator's Training on April 1, 2022

The LA CaTS Clinical Research Resources Team announced the next Level 2 Research Coordinator Training, planned for Friday, April 1st from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. This event will be person at Tulane School of Public Health building and via Zoom. All LA CaTS institutions are invited to attend. There will be no cost to attend the training and all attendees will receive a certificate of completion.

LA CaTS Announces 2022 Professional Development Speaker on “Racial Inequities in Health: What We Know and What We Think We Know”

Plenary talk on “Racial Inequities in Health: What We Know and What We Think We Know” by Dr. Thomas A. LaVeist, PhD, Dean and Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Health Equity, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

IDeA-CTR Sites to Host National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Investigator Event on 2/17/22

This event will demonstrate IDeA-CTR members to the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C). The N3C Data Enclave is a secure platform through which harmonized clinical data provided by our contributing members are stored. The Enclave includes demographic and clinical characteristics of patients who have been tested for or diagnosed with COVID-19, and further information about the strategies and outcomes of treatments for those suspected or confirmed to have the virus. This event will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. Chris Chute, Co-PI for N3C, and presentations by IDeA-CTR N3C leadership and investigators, including Drs. Sally Hodder and Clifford Rosen.

Xavier University has been awarded extended funding in partnership Tulane University for LA-CEAL 2.0

Xavier University of Louisiana's Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research & Education (CMHDRE) has been awarded extended funding in partnership Tulane University for LA-CEAL 2.0 (Louisiana Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19)

Message from the Director

LA CaTS in the Community

We invite LA CaTS junior, senior, and all other investigators to utilize the SparcRequest platform to request to share their research with the CEO Core's standing Baton Rouge and New Orleans Community Advisory Boards (CABs).

LA CaTS Announces Level I Research Coordinator Training (Virtual)

Please join us for the LA CaTS Level I Research Coordinator Training on Friday, January 28, 2022 from 8 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. This is a free training will be a fully virtual event, open to research coordinators of all levels at all LA CaTS institutions. Participants will receive an LA CaTS Research Coordinator Training Certificate for participation in the program.

Professional Development Core Welcomes New Roadmap Scholars

Each year the Professional Development Core selects qualified Scholars into the program. The Roadmap Scholars are junior faculty members whose goals are to become sustainable independent researchers. This year, in addition to a submitted application, Scholars were interviewed by all three Co-Directors and the Research Navigator. Please join us in welcoming the 6th Cohort of Roadmap Scholars: Juan Gao, MD (LSUHSC), Candice Myers, PhD (Pennington), and Ibolya Rutkai, PhD (Tulane University).

LA CaTS Center’s Dr. Leanne Redman Receives 2021 Obesity Society Award

Congratulations to Dr. Leanne Redman, Associate Executive Director for Scientific Education at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, as she is the recipient of the 2021 Thomas A Wadden Distinguished Mentorship Award from The Obesity Society.

LA CaTS Center NIH Award Tackles "Long COVID"

LA CaTS Center Primary Collaborating Institutions, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, LSU Health New Orleans, and Tulane University are participating sites for the NIH “Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) national initiative.  T

Congratulations to our 2021 Pilot Grant Awardees

The LA CaTS Pilot Grants Program is pleased to announce the awardees of the Round 10 Pilot Grants Funding Opportunities. Abstracts for each project can be found on our Pilot Projects page: /research-funding/pilot-projects/. Congratulations to the following awardees:

Xavier University Awarded Funds from CDC Foundation to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities in African Americans

LA CaTS Center Research Partner, Xavier University of Louisiana, was recently awarded $420,000 from the CDC Foundation to help address health disparities and to raise awareness of COVID-19 infections in the African American population in New Orleans. Congratulations to Dr. Faye Grimsley, principal investigator, on the award addressing this very important public health topic and we wish her much success on this effort.

LA CaTS Investigators’ Obesity & Cancer Research in Obesity Journal

LA CaTS Announces 2021 Community Scholars Program Teams

The Community Engagement and Outreach Core (CEO Core) is pleased to announce the Cohort 4 awardees of the Louisiana Community Scholars Program: 

LSU Health Shreveport Awarded NIH COBRE Research Grant

LSU Health Shreveport, a LA CaTS Center Research Partner, was recently awarded a NIH Center of Excellence Research Grant for over $10.5M for five years. This will be used to establish the Center for Applied Immunology and Pathological Processes (CAIPP). Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Yurochko, Professor and Carroll Feist Endowed Chair of Viral Oncology, Vice-Chair of Microbiology and Immunology, and Director of the Center of Excellence for Emerging Viral Threats, who is the principal investigator and director of the new center.

Pennington Biomedical Launches "Obecity, USA" National Public Service Campaign

In early May, Pennington Biomedical Research Center launched a national public service campaign Obecity, USA, that marks a milestone for Pennington Biomedical.

NIH Announces Webinar: Studying COVID-19 Using Real-World Data (N3C) May 13th

NIH and N3C announced an upcoming Zoom presentation from Dr. Kenneth Gersing (NCATS) on "Studying COVID-19 Real World Data: Lessons Learned and Steps Forward After One Year of the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C)", on Thursday, May 13th at 12:00pm. This event is co-sponsored by the LA CaTS Center. 

LA CaTS Announces Research Coordinator's Training on May 21, 2021

The LA CaTS Clinical Research Resources Team announced the next Level 2 Research Coordinator Training, planned for Friday, May 21, 2021 from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. This event will be fully virtual this year. All LA CaTS institutions are invited to attend. There will be no cost to attend the training and all attendees will receive a certificate of completion.

LA CaTS Center’s Data Analyst, San Chu, Recognized in IREx Spotlight

LSU Health New Orleans Launches New MS Bioinformatics Degree Program

Louisiana State University Health Sciences School of Graduate Studies (LSUHSC-SOGS) in New Orleans has launched a two (2) year 35-40 credit hour MS Biomedical Sciences-Bioinformatics Track degree program starting fall semester 2021. The goal of the MS Biomedical Sciences - Bioinformatics Track Program is to train and equip the next generation of scientists and biomedical professionals for career pathways in bioinformatics, computational genomics and precision medicine. Students enrolled in this program will learn how to apply cutting edge technologies such as genetic algorithms, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies to analysis and integration of complex omics and other biological data to address biomedical and life sciences questions. 

Dr. Griffin Rodgers to Present to LA CaTS on the Future of NIDDK Clinical Research.

Save the Date for a plenary talk on “The Future of NIDDK Clinical Research” by Dr. Griffin Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P., Director of National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a branch of the NIH, as our guest speaker. The event is sponsored by the LA CaTS Professional Development Core and will be held Friday, March 26th, 2021 from 12pm – 1pm. 

LSU Health Shreveport & LSU A&M College Baton Rouge Awarded $4.6M Towards Cutting-Edge Research

Xavier University’s College of Pharmacy Research on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Presented to President

Sara Al-Dahir, PharmD, and her team in the College of Pharmacy were selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to present their research on vaccine hesitancy to the Biden administration. The research project was developed in response to the NIH sending a Notice of Special Interest (NSI) offering funding for research done on COVID-19 testing in the summer of 2020. Dr. Al-Dahir’s team went the extra step to focus solely on vaccine hesitancy in the African American community. Read the full article on Xavier University’s website.

LA CaTS Announces Investigator Access to NIH COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C)

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.