Four centers outside the LSU SVM are included as
additional sources of potential mentors and research
environments. These partnerships present important
options and provide opportunities to move outside the
“veterinary bubble” when experiencing research. All
students participate in all aspects of the program.
During research discussions and informal meetings the
diversity of research environments are shared within the
group. The four partner institutions are: the Tulane
National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), the Pennington
Biomedical Research Center (PBRC), the National Hansen’s
Disease Programs Laboratory Research Branch (NHDLRB),
and the LSU College of Basic Sciences Department of
Biological Sciences (CBS). These are described in detail
below and letters of support form the Deans and
Directors of the programs are in the appendix.
The LSU SVM and the TNPRC have developed a close
research and training relationship during the past five
years. Faculty from each hold adjunct appointments in
each other’s units. In addition to the partnership in
this existing T35 application, the TNPRC is a
subcontractor on a NIH COBRE grant, Center for
Experimental Infectious Disease Research, held by the
LSU SVM. Dr. Lackner is a Co-Investigator on this grant.
The TNPRC and LSU SVM hold a joint postdoctoral T32
grant for DVMs. Dr. Lackner is the Director and Dr. Klei
is the Co- director on this training grant. Currently,
Residents in the LSU SVM and TNPRC Laboratory Animal
Medicine program share rotations in each other’s units.
The TNPRC has a national mission to improve human and
animal health through basic and applied biomedical
research. To accomplish this mission the TNPRC:
-
Conducts basic and applied biomedical research on
human health problems that require the use of nonhuman
primates.
-
Investigates nonhuman primate biology and diseases,
particularly with regard to the study of human health
problems.
-
Serves as a regional and national resource and center
of excellence for biomedical research using nonhuman
primates.
-
Provides training for graduate students, postdoctoral
fellows, veterinarians, undergraduates, and visiting
scientists.
-
Educates the general public about the critical link
between research with animal models and improvements
in human health.
The TNPRC is one of eight NIH-supported National Primate
Research Centers that constitute the National Primate
Research Program. The TNPRC is located on 500 acres of
land 35 miles north of New Orleans, in Covington, LA.
The Center was dedicated in November of 1964 and is part
of the Tulane University Health Sciences Center along
with the School of Medicine and School of Public Health
& Tropical Medicine, both of which are in New Orleans.
The TNPRC is among the largest of the eight NPRCs,
housing nearly 5,000 nonhuman primates representing
eight species, including approximately 3,800 rhesus
macaques. This represents nearly 20% of the total number
(≈27,000) of nonhuman primates and nearly 25% of the
approximately 15,000 rhesus macaques in the entire NPRC
program[1].
The Center has more than 260 employees, including 35
doctoral level scientists and clinical veterinarians.
The scientific faculty and staff are divided into seven
Divisions including Bacteriology & Parasitology,
Collaborative Research, Comparative Pathology, Gene
Therapy, Immunology, Microbiology, and Veterinary
Medicine. Administrative units that support the Research
Divisions include the Director’s Office, Administrative
Services, Facilities Services, and Information
Technology.
The research program at the TNPRC has been heavily
invested in infectious disease research for close to
three decades, in keeping with Tulane’s founding as the
Medical College of Louisiana in response to a yellow
fever epidemic in 1834. Although the majority of the
Center’s research efforts are devoted to the study of
infectious diseases, a significant program in gene
therapy, which is tightly linked to the Center for Gene
Therapy at Tulane, has developed over the last five
years. Major areas of funding for the infectious disease
program include AIDS, Lyme disease, and biodefense-related
agents. These are multidisciplinary studies involving
investigators in multiple Divisions at the TNPRC and
collaborators outside the Center. The studies cover the
spectrum from transmission and pathogenesis, to
development of vaccine strategies and chemotherapeutic
treatments. The gene therapy program provides an
important link to the rest of the university, allows
novel approaches to the treatment of many types of
disease, and provides diversity to our research program.
The last five years have been a time of significant
growth and change at the Center. This era includes the
unprecedented challenge of Hurricane Katrina. While
winds associated with the storm affected the TNPRC, the
Center did not sustain any flood damage or significant
structural damage to any permanent building. The
Center’s emergency response plan was well conceived and
executed, resulting in no loss of human or animal life,
and no animal escapes. Furthermore, there was no loss of
biological samples in freezers, and no loss of
biocontainment in any building. The major immediate
negative impact of the storm was a loss of external
power for 18 days and its impact on the personal lives
of the employees, more than 40% of whom were displaced
from their permanent residences. Through extraordinary
efforts of many TNPRC faculty and staff, as well as help
from friends and colleagues around the country and NCRR,
the Center was able to resume normal operations by
September 19, 2005, three weeks after the storm. In
contrast, the host institution did not return to New
Orleans for nearly 5 months. The damage to the
institution has been addressed by an aggressive renewal
plan. (http://renewal.tulane.edu/background.shtml)
Despite the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina,
total sponsored funding has increased dramatically and
individual, investigator initiated awards now exceed
total awards to the TNPRC in fiscal year 2001. The
increase in research activity and resulting shortage of
infrastructure have allowed the Center to successfully
obtain five NCRR C06 construction awards, numerous G20
facility improvement awards, and an NIH UC6 award to
build a Regional Biosafety Laboratory (RBL). This
funding has led to significant ongoing modernization and
expansion of the facility. To date, two existing
buildings have been completely renovated (Buildings 1
and 4) and one additional building (Building 10) has
been added, 4,180 sf of laboratory space has been
renovated and 11,400 sf of office space has been added
largely in the form of eight modular buildings. The bulk
of the other construction projects are now underway.
When all of the funded construction projects are
completed, the square footage of the facility will have
increased by more than 80,000 sf and the nonhuman
primate housing capacity at BSL2 or greater will
increase by more than 60%. In addition, a very helpful
and collegial host institution has facilitated the
growth of the TNPRC.
The TNPRC is located approximately 70 miles to the east
of the LSU SVM on interstate 10. Students choosing to
work with scientists at the TNRPC will be provided with
a travel supplement if they live in Baton Rouge, or a
living allowance if they choose to live in the Covington
area. Details are described below. With the arrival of
Dr. Lackner as the director at the end of 2001, the
relationship between the LSU SVM and TNRPC has grown
closer. In addition to this T35, The TNPRC and LSU SVM
collaborate on a T32 (RR021309) training grant in
experimental medicine and pathology lead by Dr. Lackner
at the TNPRC, and a Center of Biomedical Research
Excellence (COBRE, P20 RR020159) focused on infectious
diseases lead by Dr. Kousoulas, as noted above). Faculty
have become adjunct members of the Department of
Pathobiological Sciences and joint R01 research grants
been submitted. Dr. Kousoulas of the SVM has become an
adjunct faculty of the TNPRC. TNPRC faculty participate
as guest lectures in graduate courses taught by the
Department of Pathobiological Sciences. The LSU SVM and
the TNPRC have also established a joint ACLAM-accredited
training program with residents spending time at both
institutions. Faculty involved in the BREVS program from
the TNPRC include: Drs. Apetrei, Blanchard, Bohm,
Didier, Kuroda, Lackner, Marx, Phillip, and Veazey. They
will be part of the Infectious Disease focus group. Dr.
Bunnell is listed with the Cancer Biology and Gene
Therapy focus group.
http://www.tnprc.tulane.edu/faculty.html
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The Pennington Biomedical Research Center was
established at Louisiana State University in 1980, when
C.B. Pennington announced an unparalleled donation of
over $125 million to Louisiana State University for
construction of research laboratories and clinics
dedicated to nutrition and preventive medicine. The
Pennington Center, with its initial 223,000 square feet
of clinics, laboratories, and administrative offices,
opened in 1988 with William Pryor, Ph.D., as interim
Executive Director. In 1989, after a national search,
George A. Bray, M.D., was appointed as the Pennington
Center’s first Executive Director. In a second
construction phase, a conference center, guest lodge,
and exercise research facility totaling 93,000 square
feet were completed in 1993. Dr. Bray stepped down in
1999 and the center was fortunate to acquire Claude
Bouchard, Ph.D. as its new Executive Director. In 2001,
a third expansion phase was launched, which by mid-2003
added more than 250,000 square feet of additional
research space to the Pennington Center.
Today, the Center employs more than 650 scientists,
physicians, and support personnel, and has an inventory
of moveable equipment of over $27 million. The annual
operating budget of the Center is about $61 million. The
budget is composed of a general fund appropriation from
the state (28% of total funding), private and public
research grants (70%), and foundation support (2%). The
major source of grant funding is the NIH. The resources,
combined with the creativity, ingenuity and productivity
of the scientific faculty, have enabled the Pennington
Center to achieve an international reputation within the
nutrition research community, particularly in the area
of obesity and metabolic syndrome, within its twenty
years of existence. In addition, the Pennington Center
benefits from the support of two foundations, the
Pennington Medical Foundation, which provides money for
capital outlay on new buildings, facilities, and
equipment; and the Pennington Biomedical Research
Foundation, which supports endowed chairs,
professorships, and other aspects of the Center’s
activities.
The Pennington Center has six major research themes:
Clinical Obesity, Experimental Obesity, Functional
Foods, Health and Performance Enhancement, Nutrition and
Chronic Disease, and Population Science. In each area,
research activities range from gene discovery to
clinical trials, and involve both basic and clinical
approaches. All research groups are supported by a
number of core facilities providing cutting edge
technologies. For Basic Science research these include a
Cell Biology and Imaging Core (including confocal
microscopy), a Genomics Core (DNA sequencing, real time
PCR, preparation and use of custom microarrays together
with bioinformatics support for data analysis), a
Proteomics Core (including MALDI sequencing), a
Transgenics Animal Core (produces transgenics and gene
knockouts), and an Animal Behavior Core. For Clinical
studies these include both inpatient and outpatient
facilities, a Clinical Chemistry Core, a Body
Composition Core, a Mass Spectrometry Core, and a MRS
and Ultrasound Imaging Core.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center is on a separate
campus close (approximately 5 miles) to the LSU SVM.
Faculty have adjunct appointments in multiple LSU
departments, including the Department of Pathobiological
Sciences, the Department of Comparative Biological
Sciences, and other Departments in the College of Basic
Science and LSU School of Medicine. They serve as major
professors for graduate students in Pathobiological
Sciences and as members of SVM graduate student
committees. Joint research grants have been submitted by
faculty of the Pennington Center and the SVM. At the
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, the research
focuses on metabolic disorders, especially as related to
diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and obesity. Many of these
studies utilize transgenic and gene knockout mice.
Pennington Center faculty to be involved in the BREVS
include: Drs. George Bray, Elizabeth Floyd, Jeffrey
Gimble, Donald Ingram, Claudia Kappen, Roy Martin,
Richard Rogers, and Alberto Travagli.
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The HDLRB is organized within the Public Health
Service’s Health Resource Service Administration’s
Bureau of Primary Health Care. As a center of excellence
in Hansen’s disease (leprosy), the Center’s research
expertise and resources are unmatched in the world. In
addition to ~$3 million in annual intramural funding,
several HDLRB investigators are currently funded through
NIH grants and contracts, WHO grants, and non government
sources such as the American Leprosy Missions, The
Heiser Foundation for Leprosy Research, the German
Leprosy Relief Association, and the Hansen’s Disease
Foundation. The LRB leases 25,000 sq ft of office,
laboratory, and animal care space within the LSU SVM and
represents a microcosm of the world’s leprosy research
effort with the expertise of 7 investigators in the
epidemiology, immunology, microbiology, molecular
biology, and pathology of leprosy. In addition to basic
research programs into the biology of Mycobacterium
leprae, the leprosy bacillus, and the mechanisms of
host resistance and pathogenesis of leprosy, the HDLRB
provides pathological, microbiological, and molecular
diagnostic services to clinicians in the U.S. and
Micronesia. The HDLRB also provides training for young
scientists from around the world in the special
procedures required to investigate leprosy and the
leprosy bacillus. The HDLRB maintains leprosy research
resources unique in the world. Since M. leprae
cannot be cultivated in the laboratory, the singular
ability of the HDLRB to produce living organisms and
M. leprae constituents from infected armadillo
(>150) and athymic (nude) mouse colonies (>400), serves
as the basis for its unique research program. Provision
of these invaluable reagents to qualified workers around
the world represents a major contribution to the world
leprosy research effort. To model host resistance and
pathogenesis of leprosy, the HDLRB is participating with
the NIH genome consortium to produce a full genome
sequence (6X coverage) of the armadillo that will
provide new insights into evolutionary biology as well
as establish the armadillo as a tractable translational
research model for leprosy studies. Complementary animal
models for leprosy are also maintained at the HDLRB, and
include a large colony of M. leprae infected
“knock-out” (KO) strains of mice including: GKO (IFNg
KO), iNOS KO, CD4 KO, CD8KO, IL-10 KO, and IL-12 KO
mice. Finally, >1000 sq ft of Biosafety Level 3 (BSL 3)
laboratory is devoted to tuberculosis research focused
on drug screening and vaccine development.
The HDLRB is housed within the LSU SVM and the HDLRB
faculty participating in the BREVS are adjunct faculty
in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences. The HDLRB
faculty utilize central research facilities of the LSU
SVM and are fully integrated into the building’s
activities. They teach in graduate courses, and serve as
major professors and graduate committee members for
departmental graduate students. They also participate as
mentors in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute summer
research program for undergraduate students (LBRN).
HDLRB faculty participating in the BREVS program will be
Drs. Gillis, Adams, Truman, and Scollard. They will be
in the Infectious Disease focus group.
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A number of faculty in the College of Basic Sciences,
Departments of Chemistry and Biological Sciences, have
active NIH funded research programs. Those of potential
interest to veterinary students are mainly in the
Department of Biological Sciences. The Department of
Biological Sciences was recently formed from the merger
of the Departments of Biochemistry, Microbiology, Plant
Biology, and Zoology & Physiology. This organizational
change was designed to foster cross-cutting,
interdisciplinary research initiatives by removing
administrative and phylogenetic constraints, and by
encouraging interaction among diverse faculty,
postdoctoral fellows, and students. This approach is a
critical one for science in the 21st century, and can
yield significant rewards in the pace and quality of
discovery. Such a strategy can bring powerful problem
solving capabilities to bear on basic research questions
that one-dimensional approaches have been traditionally
unsuccessful at solving. This change also will promote
innovative educational opportunities for undergraduate
majors and will help reduce fragmentation of the
biological curriculum. The department now has a
curriculum in place leading to the Bachelor of Science
degree in Biological Sciences, and a new area of
concentration has been established in Marine Biology.
Bachelor of Science degrees are also available in
Biochemistry and Microbiology. Biological Sciences is
now the largest academic unit on campus based on the
number of tenure-track faculty (55). To maintain
traditional strengths and foci, the Department has
established three internal Divisions: Biochemistry &
Molecular Biology; Cellular, Developmental, &
Integrative Biology; and
Systematics, Ecology, & Evolution. There are
approximately 1,500 departmental majors. The majority
are pre-professional students seeking admission to
medical, dental, or veterinary schools. There are
approximately 120 graduate students in the department.
Funding for these students comes from a combination of
departmental teaching assistantships, fellowships, and
external research support. The Department of Biological
Sciences is a member of the Louisiana Agricultural
Experiment Station and several of its members have joint
appointments with the Experiment Station. The Department
maintains close linkages with the Museum of Natural
Science and the LSU Herbarium and is a member of the
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, which provides
excellent facilities and opportunities for marine and
estuarine research. Numerous collaborations are
maintained with other units on campus, including the
SVM, and a diverse array of field sites are utilized by
Departmental faculty. The facilities and space of the
Department have been markedly increased recently as it
moved into a new seven-story annex to the current Life
Sciences Building.
The Department of Biological Sciences is on the LSU
campus and is within walking distance of the SVM.
Graduate students in SVM departments take courses in
Biological Sciences and vice versa. Similarly, faculty
within these units serve as members of graduate
committees. Efforts are currently underway to form a
joint Microbiology Graduate degree program between the
SVM Department of Pathobiological Sciences and the
Department of Biological Sciences. Faculty in these
units submit research grants together. The College of
Basic Sciences in general, and the Department of
Biological Sciences in particular, have a long
successful history of summer research training programs
for undergraduates. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute
summer program for under graduates is in its 18th year
of funding and has recently been renewed for 5 years.
The NIH LBRN program also funds summer undergraduate
scholarships as noted above. Dr. Klei is the new PI of
this program and is an adjunct member of the Biological
Science Department. Faculty members within the SVM
participate in both programs. Three faculty members in
biological sciences, Drs. Batzer, Stephens, and Gleason,
who study evolutional genetics or utilize animal models
in their research, will participate in the Physiology
and Metabolic Disease focus group of the BREVS program.
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