Deepak Kumbhare, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, who was recently awarded a $150,000 New Investigator Grant from the Heffter Research Institute.

KTBS - This is the first and largest grant of its kind in the history of LSU Health Shreveport. The center will be led by Oren Rom, Ph.D., R.D., senior associate dean for basic and translational research, and Wayne Orr, Ph.D., vice chair for pathology and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Sciences.

KSLA - LSUHS has received its first-ever National Science Foundation Center Grant Award to launch a Post-Transcriptional Regulation Center, which will be a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary research center dedicated to understanding how cells control metabolism through post-transcription processes.

Omar Franco Coronel, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, FWCC, was awarded a new one-year R01 grant from the NIH National Cancer Institute.

Hind Lal, PHD, Professor and Chair of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, was awarded a new three-year R01 grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

David Morgens, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, was awarded a new three-year R01 grant from the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Tousif Sultan, PHD, Assistant Professor of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, was awarded a new five-year R01 grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Khalid El Saafien, PHD, Assistant Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology, who secured a new three-year R00 grant from the NIH National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Hongxue Shi, PHD, Assistant Professor of Molecular & Cellular Physiology, who secured a new three-year R00 grant from the NIH National Insitute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease totaling $744,191 for his project.

Arif Yurdagul, PHD, Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, was awarded a new four-year R01 grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute totaling $2.6 Million for his latest research project.

Kevin Murnane, PHD, was awarded a new two-year UG3 grant from the NIH through Virogenomics BioDevelopment, Inc. for his project "IND-enabling studies and phase I clinical trials to advance CD74-target, DRhQ, as a treatment for stimulant use disorder."

Amr Salem, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Translational Pathobiology, who was awarded a new NIH three-year R00 grant.

A. Wayne Orr, PhD, received a $300,000 Transformational Pathway Award from the American Heart Association in July 2025 for his work on “Integrin-dependent endothelial priming in atherosclerosis”.

Hongyan Guo, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, who was awarded a new two-year R21 grant from the NIH National Cancer Institute totaling $412,134 for her project titled, "Boosting Oncolytic HSV Immunotherapy by Enabling Necroptosis."

Taichiro Nonaka, DDS, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, has been awarded a new two-year R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

Xiangqin He, PhD is working to understand why cardiovascular events occur. His research centers on the structural framework of blood vessels, the extracellular matrix, that helps vessels maintain strength and flexibility.

With cardiovascular disease responsible for the majority of deaths in Louisiana and worldwide, research scientist Hind Lal, PhD, Chair of the Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy at LSU Health Shreveport, is leading efforts to understand the nuances of this disease at a molecular level.

Researchers at LSU Health Shreveport, Texas A&M University and Georgia State University collaborated to study how specialized brain cells communicate to control cardiovascular function. Understanding these pathways could improve how clinicians predict, prevent and treat hypertension.

At LSU Health Shreveport’s Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Sciences (CCDS) and the Metabolic and Liver Disease Research Program (MLDRP), scientists are studying the metabolic drivers to find ways to stop cardiovascular disease before it advances.

For decades, belief held that the heart only functioned in response to the brain’s commands. Research now shows that communication between the heart and brain is a two-way dialogue, with each organ continuously influencing the other’s function.

February’s designation as heart month would not be complete without recognizing the close biological connection between the heart and the brain. Rather than isolated organs working independently, the heart and brain are partners in a complex, dynamic system that supports both physical and cognitive health. At LSU Health Shreveport, researchers and clinicians study this connection to better understand how protecting cardiovascular health can also preserve brain function.

By defining the intersection of immune dysfunction and smooth muscle cell behavior, Dr. Art Yurdagul’s team is working to find strategies that stabilize plaques, prevent rupture and promote plaque regression.

Each year on February 11, the world celebrates the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, recognizing the vital role women play in advancing discovery and innovation. At LSU Health Shreveport, that impact is felt every day in our laboratories, classrooms and clinical environments, where women scientists are pushing the boundaries of biomedical research and inspiring the next generation to follow.

Everyday Health - People with MS who also have obesity or type 2 diabetes may be candidates for GLP-1 therapy, says Alan David Kaye, MD, PhD, a professor and the vice chair of research in the anesthesiology department at LSU Health in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dr. Kaye has published research on GLP-1s in people with MS.