Louisiana Cancer Research Center - LCRC

Sunday is World No To***co Day. Below are some helpful cessation resources from our partners at the Louisiana Campaign for To***co-Free Living, a program of the LCRC.

Tomorrow is World No To***co Day.

At TFL, we are committed to helping Louisianans live healthier, to***co-free lives by connecting individuals with the tools, resources, and support they need to quit.

If quitting to***co has been on your mind, free cessation resources are available to help you take the next step.

Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669)
Visit quitwithusla.org
Text READY to 34191 for free quit support

Congratulations to Dr. Cameron and Dr. Hagensee, both of whom are LCRC faculty members.

When LSU wins a research grant, those dollars immediately fuel discovery, innovation, jobs, healthcare advancement, and economic growth.

At the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center and , researchers led by Dr. Jennifer Cameron and Dr. Michael Hagensee were awarded a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the NIH, to study the increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) related head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in people living with HIV.

Learn more about LSU's record-breaking research impacts at https://bit.ly/4u4zfLQ

Read more about last week's productive LCRC Cancer Research Symposium, which attracted scientists from all across the state. Over 260 scientists participated, all of them committed to learning more about each other's work in hopes of collaborating on cancer discoveries. LSU Health New Orleans,Tulane Cancer Center,Xavier University of Louisiana, Xavier University of Louisiana, University of Louisiana Monroe LSU Health Shreveport,Pennington Biomedical Research Center, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, New Orleans BioInnovation Center

Making Connections: 2026 LCRC Cancer Research Symposium | Louisiana Cancer Research Center Promoting education and conducting research in the diagnosis, detection and treatment of cancer in Louisiana.

Dr. Miele is also Co-Director of the LCRC, a collaborative hub that includes researchers from 14 Louisiana institutions including LSU Health New Orleans, Tulane Cancer Center, Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health.

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While prophylactic HPV vaccines have been remarkably successful at preventing infection, they offer no benefit to those already infected with the virus or living with HPV-related precancerous lesions. LCRC New Investigator Award recipient Brent Stanfield, PhD, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, aims to fill this void by developing a first-in-class therapeutic vaccine that can treat existing HPV infections and HPV-driven cervical cancer. This Louisiana-developed platform could ultimately benefit patients with other HPV-associated malignancies, including head-and-neck and a**l cancers. https://bit.ly/4wTBxjN

Congratulations to Dr. Alahari, an esteemed member of the LCRC faculty!

Congratulations to Dr. Suresh Alahari on two well-deserved recognitions celebrating his impact in cancer research, mentorship, and service. Dr. Alahari was recently honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Society of American Asian Scientists in Cancer Research (SAASCR) at the AACR Annual Meeting and received the Outstanding Service Award from the LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine Dean. The award was presented by Dean DiCarlo.
These honors reflect his longstanding commitment to advancing discovery, shaping future scientists, and strengthening our research community.

We are proud to celebrate his continued contributions to the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center and LSU Health New Orleans.

Louisiana’s rate of head and neck cancer exceeds the national average. Surgery carries risk of complications, longer hospital stays and higher costs. Improving risk assessment before surgery could enhance care and surgical outcomes. Efthymios "Makis" Papadopoulos, PhD, LSU Kinesiology, in collaboration with Dr. Sagar Kansara, LSU Health New Orleans and Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, will use his LCRC New Investigator Award to research whether radiographic skeletal muscle measures can predict short- and long-term outcomes and explore links between muscle characteristics and social vulnerability.

Dr. Giulia Monticone, LSU Health New Orleans, is one of five Louisiana cancer scientists to receive a 2026 New Investigator Award, funding designed to help early-career scientists establish their research programs and transition to independent investigators. Dr. Monticone, in collaboration with Dr. Vijay Nijjar at LSU Health New Orleans, will study how changes happen in T cells in patients with small lung nodules that may be early lung cancers. By comparing patients with benign and cancerous nodules, the project aims to find early immune “warning signs” of lung cancer. Immunotherapy has greatly improved outcomes for some patients with advanced lung cancer, but many people do not respond to these treatments. Little is known about how the immune system behaves in the earliest stages of lung cancer. The immune system uses T cells, a specialized cell type that can recognize cancer cells, to find and destroy cancer cells. However, T cells can become “exhausted” or “senescent,” meaning they lose their ability to fight cancer effectively. A specific protein called Cbl-b acts like a brake on these T cells by turning off another important molecule, Notch1, which is needed for T cells to stay active. By comparing patients with benign and cancerous nodules, the project aims to find early immune “warning signs” of lung cancer. https://bit.ly/4wTBxjN

Our partners at The Louisiana Campaign for To***co-Free Living, a program of the LCRC, are presenting a webinar on Thursday on how to***co use is driving cancer risk and affecting health disparities among women, particularly in communities facing barriers to prevention, early detection, and cessation support.

Scan the QR code or register at bit.ly/4tA85gu