The Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center has announced the recipients of its first round of 2012 Pilot Grants.
The following three grants were awarded to researchers at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Tulane University and Pennington Biomedical Research Center from the funds of the LA CaTS Center.

  1. Dr. Eric Lazartigues- LSUHSC NO: "Evaluation of ACE2 as a biomarker for neurogenic hypertension"
  2. Dr. Gary Sander-Tulane University: "Relationship of uAGT to blood pressure and response to antihypertensive therapy"
  3. Dr. Daniel Hsia-PBRC: "Metabolic effects of short term sugarcane bagasse supplementation "

Based on the recommendations of the LA CaTS center, the following five grants were funded by the institutional match of their respective institutions:

  1. Dr. Jovanny Zabaleta-LSUHSC NO: "Transcriptional profiling of gastritis progression using high throughput sequencing of tissue microRNA"
  2. Dr. Francesca Peruzzi-LSUHSC NO: "Using Serum microRNAs as Biomarkers for Cognitive Impairment in HIV Patients"
  3. Dr. Suresh Alahari-LSUHSC NO: "MicroRNAs as prognostic markers of breast cancer "
  4. Dr. Zakaria Abd-Elmageed-Tulane University: "Discovering the Role of Putative MicroRNAs in Prostate Tumorigenesis"
  5. Dr. Minolfa Prieto-Tulane University: "Urinary Excretion of Renin and Soluble Prorenin Receptor in Hypertension"