Our Partners

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans

LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans is the state’s academic health leader, educating Louisiana’s healthcare professionals. LSUHSC comprises a School of Medicine, the state’s only School of Dentistry, Louisiana’s only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSUHSC faculty cares for patients in public and private hospitals, and clinics throughout the region. At the forefront of biosciences research, the LSUHSC research enterprise generates many jobs and an enormous economic impact. LSUHSC faculty members have and continue to make lifesaving discoveries that advance treatment and cure disease. 

Discoveries

Master Gene Regulator

LSUHSC Cancer Center scientists are the first to reveal the inner workings of a master gene regulator, which can control a diverse array of functions. The gene regulator stimulates nerve cells to “rewire” in response to external stimuli and controls the mechanism by which certain viruses hijack the immune system's normal response. Further, it can control how fast cancer cells divide, which is essential in regulating the immune response to cancer.

Enzyme Use for Treatment

LSUHSC Cancer Center researchers discovered how an enzyme produced by cells of the immune system could be used to treat T-cell leukemia, an aggressive type of leukemia that is particularly difficult to treat in adult patients. Testing has now begun on solid tumors of the lung and liver.

Pediatric Weight Management Programs

LSUHSC researchers developed one of the world’s most successful pediatric weight management programs. The National Cancer Institute now cites as a gold standard for risk reduction.

Achievements

The LSUHSC Viruses and Cancer Group received coveted admission to the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) funded by the National Cancer Institute. This consortium develops state-of-the-art cancer treatment and makes it available for patients with diagnoses that require special care such as HIV-AIDS and various cancers. The LSUHSC Viruses and Cancer Group is the only member of the AMC in the South.

Patents

LSUHSC Cancer Center researchers have successfully submitted two significant patents. Both of these patents have been favorably evaluated for funding at the National Institutes of Health.

Controlling Virus Growth

The first is aimed at controlling the growth of viruses with a newly discovered natural enzyme. This discovery could be utilized to prevent and treat various infections including new forms of influenza and cancer.

Mouse Model of Testing

The second patent is the development of a mouse that contains the human immune system which allows investigators to test new forms of immune therapies for cancer and other diseases.

Research Team