LA CaTS Educational Opportunity: REDCap Hour (by webinar)-8/31/17

Dear LA CaTS Research Community,

$20 million federal grant to continue funding biomedical research across Louisiana

http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/article_1f74b438-7ebd-11e7-9ac2-3b78dbe73b8d.html

LA CaTS to begin offering REDCap Help Sessions

REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a web-based data capture tool that does not require client local software and can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet. The LA CaTS Cyberinfrastructure team provides the use of the REDCap software as a service for LA CaTS member investigators and their teams to collect study data. This service includes the REDCap application software hosted in a web server, disk space for data storage, regular system backups, software patches and upgrades, basic training courses, online documentation, and database/survey development assistance.

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).

NIH Awards $20 Million for Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science (LA CaTS) Center

Baton Rouge, LA - A new $20-million federal grant--the second such competitive grant awarded to LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center--will continue to fund collaborative biomedical research being conducted at 10 institutions across Louisiana to improve the health of its citizens during the next five years, officials announced today.

Community Advisory Board Member appointed by Governor to State Nursing Board

Congratulations to Myra Collins, LPN, Director of Business Development at CareSouth Medical and Dental, who was reappointed by Governor Edwards to the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. Ms. Collins is an active member of the LA CaTS Community Advisory Board in Baton Rouge. Myra is also an active volunteer in numerous community organizations including American Heart Association, Together Baton Rouge, MDA, Mid-City Merchants Board, and AARP Advisory Transportation Committee.

NORC Pilot Grant Opportunity

The Pennington NORC is pleased to announce a Pilot and Feasibility Grant Program (the full text of the Application Instructions is attached or can be found here as a PDF under Related Files). This program is intended to provide research support to test innovative hypotheses from individuals or multidisciplinary teams involving nutrition/obesity-related research. This research should involve some aspect of nutrient absorption, nutrient metabolism, cellular nutrient sensing or signaling, intervention/treatment response, and genetic aspects of nutrition-related chronic diseases. 

How to Engage the LA CaTS Community Advisory Boards in Your Research

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is defined as "a collaborative process that equitably involves all partners in the research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each offers. CBPR begins with a research topic of importance to the community with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community health and eliminate health disparities."1-5

ISPCTN announces launch of summer professional development series

The IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN) is pleased to offer its first professional development series titled "Overview of Clinical Trials". This series is available to all LA CaTS Center member institutions and is accessible beginning today, June 13th.

Pennington Biomedical announces new speaker series to engage the community

Pennington Biomedical is hosting a new quarterly speaker series entitled "Discovering Opportunities for Change", aimed at showcasing the impactful research underway at the center.

LSUHealthNO Awarded $2.5m Grant to Develop Better Dental Filling Materials

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health has awarded LSU Health New Orleans' School of Dentistry an R01 grant in the amount of $2,465,297 over five years to develop stronger, longer-lasting dental filling materials with antibacterial properties to inhibit recurrent cavities and extend the life of the restoration. Xiaoming Xu, PhD, Professor and Head of the Division of Biomaterials, is the principal investigator on the grant.

Welcome Dr. Donna Ryan, LA CaTS Center Director & PI

Dear LA CaTS Center Members,

LSU Goes to Washington

LSU President Dr. F. King Alexander and leaders from LSU campuses are in Washington, DC this week for LSU Day at the Capitol. They are meeting with members of the Louisiana congressional delegation.

Registration is now open for the LA CaTS Level II Clinical Research Coordinator Training

Registration is now open for the LA CaTS Level II Clinical Research Coordinator Training which will be held at Tulane University from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Friday May 19, 2017. The training will be held at the Tidewater Building (1440 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70112) on the 17th floor, room 1708. This interactive training session will consist of case study presentations and discussions with four Principal Investigator (PI) Mentors. Each PI Mentor will have case studies that reflect a specific category in research. Small groups will be assembled to discuss the case studies, while the PI Mentor and experts from IRB, Clinical Research, Compliance, and Legal will be available to offer guidance to the groups.

Dr. Mona Fouad (UAB): "Diversity in Translational Research" - April 7, 2017

Mona Fouad, MD, MPH

Pennington Biomedical COBRE Announces Call for Pilot Grants

Funds are available to fund 4 to 8 P&F grants from the Pennington COBRE ("Mentoring in Obesity and Diabetes Research in LA", Dr. Thomas Gettys, PI).  Clinical/translational or basic science proposals may request budgets from $25,000 to $75,000.  The major objective of this program is to provide research support to test innovative hypotheses regarding metabolic diseases related to the COBRE and the Clinical Science Faculty at PBRC, as well as their collaborators and PIs at sister institutions within the LSU system.

LA CaTS to host Breast Health & Cancer Symposium Open to the Public

Please save the date for the upcoming LA CaTS Center Breast Health & Cancer Symposium on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 from 5:30pm-8:00pm at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA. This event is open to all LA CaTS Center member institutions and to the public.

Now Accepting Applications for 2017 Roadmap Scholar Program

The LA CaTS CEMCD Core announces an RFA for the Roadmap Scholarship 2017

Donna Ryan Named Executive Director of LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center

BATON ROUGE - LSU President F. King Alexander has announced that Dr. Donna Ryan, a world-renowned obesity researcher and professor emerita at Pennington Biomedical, will serve as interim executive director of LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Current Executive Director Dr. William Cefalu was recently named chief scientific and medical officer of the American Diabetes Association.

REACHNet Pilot Project Support informational webinar to be offered Monday, February 20, 2017

Dear LA CaTS Center Investigators,

LSU's Pennington Biomedical Awarded $5.28 Million from NIH to Study the Molecular Effects of Exercise

Baton Rouge, LA - LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center has been awarded $5.28 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the benefits of exercise on health, specifically the molecular mechanisms behind these benefits. The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans (MoTrPAC) program aims to understand the molecular mechanisms of how physical activity improves health and prevents disease.

REACHnet is Open for Business!

The Research Action for Health Network (REACHnet) became a formal partner of LA CaTS in 2016. Since 2013, REACHnet has been a PCORI-funded clinical data research network (CDRN) that is designed to help Louisiana clinicians and researchers conduct robust comparative effectiveness research with integrated recruitment and data solutions. REACHnet is managed by the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) and includes the following partner systems:

LA CaTS Junior Investigator Training: February 2-3, 2017

Please join us for our inaugural LA CaTS Center Junior Investigator Training to be held at Tulane University’s Tidewater Building Room 1210 (1440 Canal Street, New Orleans LA).  There will be two sessions covering different topic areas.  Video conferencing will be available via AdobeConnect for those who cannot attend physically.  To register, please visit: https://redcap.sph.tulane.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=F7KKYPRCF9.

Appointment of Chris Kevil Ph.D.as Vice Chancellor for Research at LSU Health Shreveport

Contact - Lisa Babin, Executive Director of Public Affairs & Communication:

Educational Spotlight: Statistical Presentations, Dr. Susan Ellenberg, Nov. 7th & 8th

On behalf of Dr. Zhide Fang and Dean Smith from LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health, you are invited to attend two presentations from the 2016 LSUHSC SPH John Rock Visiting Scholar.

LA CaTS Level I Research Coordinator Training

LA CaTS Level I Research Coordinator Training

Pennington Biomedical to Host 2016 Childhood Obesity and Public Health Conference

The 9th annual childhood obesity and public health conference - Preventing Obesity in the Early Years: Translating Evidence into Action - will be held at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center on Tuesday, October 25, 2016.

Louisiana Biomedical Collaborative Research Program (LBCRP) Workshop - September 8, 2016

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

2016 Biomedical Summer Seminar Series

Cosponsored by the CCTS and the UAB Informatics Institute, this 9-week series will cover key topics and available resources in biomedical and health informatics for clinical and translational research.

Tulane plays lead role in major diabetes drug trial

https://news.tulane.edu/news/tulane-plays-lead-role-major-diabetes-drug-trial