Tulane will recruit and train community health workers to implement a comprehensive health and lifestyle coaching program for congregants in predominantly African American churches in New Orleans and Bogalusa, Louisiana, to help eliminate cardiovascular health disparities among African Americans. This work will be funded by a $8.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The program will focus on healthy eating, exercise, weight loss, improving cholesterol numbers, addressing high blood pressure and controlling other risk factors.

To spread the word about Tulane research during the coronavirus crisis, Tulanian Now was inaugurated in the spring. It’s a digital newsletter with stories about work being done by researchers and in the community to address the global COVID-19 pandemic. An archive of past issues is available.

Dr. Joshua Denson, assistant professor of medicine and pulmonary and critical care medicine physician, led a study that found that COVID-19 patients who have metabolic syndrome are three times more likely to die from the virus. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of at least three of five conditions: hypertension, high blood sugar, obesity, high triglycerides and abnormal cholesterol levels.

Microbiologist Lisa Morici and immunologist James McLachlan at the School of Medicine were awarded a $150,000 Fast Grant for a project to make next-generation COVID-19 vaccines more effective. The team will test whether they can produce a better immune response in tissues most vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection by adding bacteria-based adjuvants to vaccines in development. Fast Grants are awarded within 48 hours of researchers applying.

Samendra Sherchan, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, is lead investigator of a study that revealed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater in Louisiana. Scientists collected wastewater samples in Southern Louisiana over a period of four months and monitored SARS-CoV-2 using an ultrafiltration method.

School of Medicine researchers have designed a synthetic protein against COVID-19. Dr. Jay Kolls, John W. Deming Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine and lead author of the research, said the engineered protein, called MDR504, is designed to go to the lungs to neutralize the virus before it can infect lung cells. In addition to a treatment, the protein could be used as a pre- or post-exposure therapy for healthcare workers, first responders and vulnerable populations at high risk.

Dr. Richard Oberhelman and others at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine have partnered with local healthcare providers for a COVID-19 study of patients and healthcare workers in New Orleans as part of a larger Centers for Disease Control and Prevention effort to better understand the virus. The study will provide estimates of how many people in a given area have COVID-19 and overall infection rates over time. It will also examine geographic, demographic and clinical trends.

A team of researchers is studying how the coronavirus works and where and when it is shed through a $700,000 grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What researchers find could help explain why COVID-19 is causing higher death rates among Black and Hispanic residents of New Orleans. Assistant Professor of Medicine Dr. Dahlene Fusco, who is part of the team, said researchers want to learn whether specific factors related to the virus or something within the host contribute to the higher fatality rate.