News

A student of BRF and LSU Health Science Center Shreveport’s Science and Medicine Academic Research Training (SMART) Program was the sole student in the state of Louisiana to advance to the semifinalist round in the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Sunjay Letchuman, a senior at Caddo Parish Magnet High School, was among the top 491 competitors in the nation presenting 300 science research projects. Letchuman’s project, titled “Differential Redox Profiles of Veins and Arteries Associated with Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Failure,” focuses on the investigation of the failure of coronary artery bypass grafts of the saphenous vein located in the leg. Though Letchuman’s project did not advance to the finalist round, the research’s implications may have an impact on the medical and research fields. Letchuman explains that in coronary artery bypass grafting, a common open-heart surgery, the grafted vein’s patency rate, or openness, diminishes after 10 years, leading to complications and even death. Letchuman and fellow researchers in SMART mentor Dr. Chris Pattillo’s LSU Health Science Center lab, part of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and the Center for Cardiovascular Diseases and Sciences, have theorized that a particular practice in the grafting procedure may correlate […]

The winner of Louisiana State University Shreveport and the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP)’s inaugural Pilot Pitch competition is Colin Moran, of Karnak, Texas, a junior Computer Science major at LSUS. Moran was awarded $3,000 for pitching his business model concept for a social app called Pick-up, which helps users network and meet to play sports. The competition was hosted on LSUS campus last week. “The goal of Pick-up is to connect individuals in the community to pick-up sports. Right now, there’s a lapse in organization and I’m looking to provide that,” Moran said. Pick-up sports or a pick-up game is a term for just-for-fun sporting events in which players meet at public parks or courts to team up and compete against each other in ultimate frisbee, soccer or any other team sport. Moran said he has been mulling over the idea for the app for about a year and a half. “So far I’ve gotten great feedback about it and I want to pursue it,” he said. Moran plans to work with local patent attorney Charles Holoubek to secure a patent as the next step in launching his business. He received coaching from EAP portfolio company entrepreneur Wayne Nix, founder […]

Senator John Milkovich provided the following column to the Shreveport Times for publication on Sunday Nov. 5. Sen. Milkovich: Foes thwart BRF, betraying Shehee’s memory BRF is the community organization founded over 34 years ago that owes much of its success to the blood, sweat and tears of a Shreveport legend, and my distant predecessor as state senator for District 38, Virginia Shehee. A local physician has recently stated that BRF’s operation of University Health “simply is not what Virginia Shehee wanted.” Because of Virginia’s status as an icon in our community, the importance of University Health to our community — and Virginia’s love of her community — this declaration not only impels, but also demands, a look at the facts. BRF is not an out-of-state corporate hospital chain. Nor is it a holding company comprised of distant stockholders, formed to enrich a few stakeholders. BRF was created in this community and is constituted by members of this community, and its work is done by this community. Ultimately, BRF is the embodiment of the vision that Virginia and other BRF leaders had for their community: making northwest Louisiana better for future generations. In 2013,  Gov. Bobby Jindal ended the LSU Medical Center’s time as a state-run hospital and pushed for a public-private partnership. In June 2013, over 3,200 pink slips were […]

A private biomedical research laboratory in Shreveport is set to be the production site for a new University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM)-licensed technology researchers say has potential to treat a wide range of disease and ailments, from skin conditions to cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. This week representatives from Segue Science Management, the newly formed private company Oleolive and ULM’s School of Pharmacy inked a contract to license an extraction method and application for oleocanthal, an active compound of olive oil. ULM researchers have found the compound has potential to suppress human cancer cells and Alzheimer’s disease, and has anti-inflammatory applications to potentially treat a wide range of conditions. Oleolive, headed by Bossier City native Kiley Grant and co-founded by Drs. Jim Cardelli (CTO) and Alana Gray (COO), is the company formed to commercialize the technology developed by ULM professors and co-founders Drs. Khalid El Sayed and Amal Kaddoumi. Oleolive operations will be based out of BRF’s Intertech 1 facility in the newly opened Segue Science Labs, a startup portfolio company of the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP) co-founded by Drs. Gray, Cardelli and David Coleman. Gray and Cardelli also head Segue Science Management, a partner of EAP. Segue Science Management aims […]

Louisiana State University Shreveport students and faculty who have a “big idea” could win $3,000 in an inaugural business model competition called Pilot Pitch. The new competition for budding or would-be entrepreneurs was born of a need to fill a perceived gap in the entrepreneur ecosystem in Northwest Louisiana. According to Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP) financial analyst Caryn Chalmers, a graduate of LSUS’ MBA program, the university setting is the perfect environment to bring forth the next big idea. Think Dell, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and more recently, Snapchat. “Quite a few startups in the last 15 to 20 years were from partnerships that formed in academic settings – not necessarily from people in the same fields, but between students of different backgrounds coming together to solve a problem,” Chalmers said. “This is where the spark between creativity and entrepreneurship really happens.” Though the contest in its first year is only for LSUS students and faculty members, there are plans to expand to other local colleges and universities. “We all knew we needed this here,” Chalmers said. “And it fills the need to have a university-level entrepreneurship competition and compliments other efforts like the Louisiana Startup Prize, Junior Achievement, CoHab and […]

BRF and University Health announced today that they expect to favorably resolve the issues raised in a Notice of Breach sent to them last night by LSU, and expect to continue in their role as owners and operators of the hospitals in Shreveport and Monroe. “While we are very disappointed in the actions of LSU and the Division of Administration, we remain committed to try to work with them to resolve our differences for the benefit of the people of North Louisiana,” said Steve Skrivanos, Chair of University Health. BRF and University Health are currently engaged in discussions with Ochsner Health regarding potential collaboration to move their efforts forward.  The state has encouraged these efforts. BRF and University Health strongly disagree with the positions taken by LSU, and is prepared, if necessary, to fight those issues out successfully. “We will resist any effort to interfere with our successful effort to improve patient care and access for the residents of North Louisiana,” said Skrivanos. The dispute between University Health, LSU and the Division of Administration concerns, among other things, the funding of the hospital and LSU.  Data shows that this funding grossly discriminates against North Louisiana. The Cooperative Endeavor Agreement that […]

Two North Louisiana entities have entered a formal partnership to increase biotechnology transfer, development, commercialization and company startup opportunities for researchers and universities in the region. The Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP), an initiative of BRF, has partnered with private company Segue Science Management (SSM), headed by two former LSU Health Science Center Shreveport researchers, Drs. Jim Cardelli and Alana Gray, as a means to draw out undercapitalized technologies in the academic setting. Too often, Cardelli says, technologies developed in the university setting are left uncommercialized. A 30-year veteran in university research and development, Cardelli is an entrepreneur who has been through the arduous process of licensing and commercializing biotech. Aside from SSM, Cardelli also heads Segue Therapeutics (STX), a repurposing drug discovery and development company. Technology he discovered while at LSU Health Science Center Shreveport is currently on the road to commercialization with the help of EAP. Gray, now his partner and President of SSM, was a student at the time of the discovery and was integral in the development of the STX technology. “We want to do for other researchers and universities what I’ve been able to accomplish as a researcher turned entrepreneur, and with the help of EAP,” […]