ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WIN: LSU Garners $11.5M Grant from NIH to Establish Louisiana Pulmonary Research Center
02/04/2019

LSU School of Veterinary Medicine researchers bring in $11.5 million of federal funding from the National Institutes of Health to Louisiana to advance pulmonary research. From left to right: LSU Provost Stacia Haynie, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Joel Baines, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Associate Dean for Research and Advanced Studies and co-investigator Rhonda Cardin, LSU Professor and principal investigator Samithamby Jeyaseelan, LSU President F. King Alexander and LSU Associate Vice President of Research & Economic Development Gus Kousoulas.
Photo Credit: Thomas Rooney, LSU.
BATON ROUGE – The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, or LSU SVM, has been awarded
more than $11.5 million in funding over five years from the National Institutes of
Health, or NIH, to launch the Center for Lung Biology and Disease, or CLBD. Samithamby
Jeyaseelan, the William L. Jenkins Professor in the Department of Pathobiological
Sciences, will serve as principal investigator, and Rhonda Cardin, associate dean
for research and advanced studies, will serve as co-investigator.
The CLBD will augment research on campus in the molecular and cellular immunological
mechanisms of pulmonary diseases. Lung diseases are an increasing problem, especially
in babies, the immunocompromised and the elderly, and Louisiana is in the top five
states most affected by pulmonary diseases. The over-arching goal of the CLBD is to
gain new insights into the pathogenesis of devastating lung diseases that will guide
improved strategies to treat and prevent lung diseases in human populations.
The funding comes from the NIH Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE
program, which seeks to promote the initiation and development or expansion of unique,
innovative, state-of-the-art biomedical and behavioral research centers at institutions
in states that historically have received low levels of support from NIH, including
Louisiana.
“This multimillion dollar federal grant is a major economic development win for Louisiana.
It supports our on-going research in a critical health field and helps Louisiana continue
to stand out as a leader in research,” said Gus Kousoulas, LSU associate vice president
for research & economic development.
Research supported by this program spans the full spectrum of basic and clinical sciences
and encompasses all areas of health-related investigation. In addition, COBRE projects
augment the ability of investigators to compete for investigator-initiated NIH research
grants or other external nationally peer-reviewed funding.
"COBRE brings national recognition to the LSU SVM and will serve as a powerful engine
to expand our research portfolio in pulmonary disease as it relates to human health
and comparative medicine," said Joel Baines, LSU SVM dean. “We are proud of all of
our faculty associated with this prestigious grant. This award mechanism will also
provide exceptional research and funding opportunities to veterinarian-scientists
to do high-caliber research using COBRE resources.”
According to the NIH, COBRE support comes in three sequential 5-year phases: Phase
I focuses on developing research infrastructure and providing junior investigators
with formal mentoring and research project funding to help them acquire preliminary
data and successfully compete for independent research grant support. Phase II seeks
to strengthen each center through further improvements in research infrastructure
and continuing development and support of a critical mass of investigators with shared
scientific interests. After 10 years of COBRE support, centers are expected to be
able to compete successfully for other sources of research funding, such as program
project or center grants from other NIH institutes and centers or other funding sources.
Phase III transitional centers provide support for maintaining COBRE research cores
developed during Phases I and II, and sustain a collaborative, multidisciplinary research
environment with pilot project programs and mentoring and training components. Although
this new grant garners more than $11.5 million in total costs for its initial five
years, the grant is renewable for two additional five-year terms for a total of more
than $32 million.
“This grant focuses on lung disease, which is an ongoing area of cutting-edge research
done by the investigators at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine,” Jeyaseelan said.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for a group of new and early-stage investigators
to get their research programs off the ground and to flourish. It sets essential milestones
in research that they have to fulfill and includes the remarkable value of personalized
mentoring. It is indeed an awesome program.”
As principal investigator, Jeyaseelan has assembled a team of outstanding investigators
with advanced knowledge and research expertise across basic science departments in
the LSU SVM Departments of Pathobiological Sciences and Comparative Biomedical Sciences
to address immunological mechanisms contributing to numerous infectious and non-infectious
pulmonary diseases. In addition to Cardin as co-investigator, key research personnel
include Smriti Mehra, associate professor, Division of Microbiology at the Tulane
National Primate Research Center, or TNPRC; Weishan Huang, assistant professor in
the LSU Department of Pathobiological Sciences; and Yogesh Saini and Sonika Patial,
who are both assistant professors in the LSU Department of Comparative Biomedical
Sciences, or CBS. Moreover, key scientific core personnel include Tammy Dugas, professor
in CBS and project lead for the Pulmonary Immunopathology Core, and Kousoulas, who
is a professor in PBS, associate vice president for LSU Office of Research & Economic
Development and project lead for the Molecular Biology Core.
The specific objectives of this COBRE CLBD program are as follows: 1) Promote the
establishment of a nationally recognized Center of Excellence, or COE, in Pulmonary
Diseases; 2) Facilitate the improvement in research infrastructure for enhancing competitiveness
for extramural grants; and 3) Develop an administrative infrastructure to promote
the independent career of junior investigators.
There are four essential components of the COBRE: 1) An Administrative Core will provide
administrative support, organization, coordination and efficient management necessary
to ensure the success of the COBRE and junior investigators. This core will also provide
accounting support to ensure appropriate fiscal and scientific oversight, monitoring
and compliance with federal and institutional grant management regulations. 2) A Pulmonary
Immunopathology Core will provide animal and equipment facilities and specialized
training for COBRE junior investigators in pulmonary immunopathological techniques
and to develop new experimental approaches that will assist junior investigators and
other NIH-funded investigators in successfully pursuing their research objectives.
3) A Molecular Biology Core will provide access to and experience in utilizing advanced
molecular biology, which is limited for most junior investigators and established
NIH-funded investigators. 4) Individual Projects will include Mehra’s Indoleamine
dioxygenase suppresses pulmonary T-cell immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Huang’s
TCR signaling in IL-10 production by CD8+ T cells during influenza-induced lung immunopathology;
Saini’s Myeloid Cell Signaling in Allergic Asthma; and Patial’s Modulation of acute
lung injury by tristetraprolin.
“This new center award is the second major federally funded center award that builds
on the success of the COBRE on Experimental Infectious Disease Research, now in its
15th year, in the state of Louisiana. The new center is supported by the strong biomedical
infrastructure provided by existing SVM Cores including cores administered by the
SVM Division of Biotechnology & Molecular Medicine, or BioMMED, and the LSU Office
of Research & Economic Development, or ORED,” said Kousoulas, who is also the BioMMED
director. ”LSU plans to submit additional COBRE applications in the future.”
Although the theme of CLBD is pulmonary disease, it is open to all researchers on
campus and in the state of Louisiana. Once junior faculty members receive independent
R01 NIH funding, they will be graduated from the COBRE and replaced by eligible junior
faculty members. For example, Mehra, a COBRE project investigator, advanced from the
LSU-TNPRC COBRE due to her R01 award from the NIH, which was granted during the review
process for this current COBRE grant, making her the first graduate of the CLBD.
“We are optimistic that other junior investigators will follow Dr. Mehra’s path to
become independent investigators,” Jeyaseelan said. “We are incredibly proud, really
excited and extremely grateful to pursue this into the next phase of the COBRE support.”
About LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine is one of only 30 veterinary schools in the U.S. and the only one in Louisiana. The LSU SVM is dedicated to improving the lives of people and animals through education, research and service. We teach. We heal. We discover. We protect.
Contact Ginger Guttner
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
225-578-9922
ginger@lsu.edu
Alison Satake
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3870
asatake@lsu.edu