2026 News Feed
Pennington Biomedical Men's Health Summit 2026 Coming Aug. 22
Registration is now open for the 2026 Pennington Biomedical Men’s Health Summit, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 22. Presented by FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake and hosted by Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation, the free summit is available to all over the age of 18.
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Topline Results from LiBBY Trial Show THC/CBD Combination Significantly Reduces Agitation for People with Dementia at End of Life
A combination of CBD and THC rapidly and significantly reduces agitation in hospice-eligible people with dementia, suggest topline results from the Phase 2 LiBBY (Life’s End Benefits of cannaBidiol and tetrahYdrocannabinol) clinical trial. The findings were reported for the first time at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2026 in London and online.
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Proven Childhood Obesity Treatment Also Works at Pediatrician’s Office
Childhood obesity affects one in five children in the U.S., yet most families have limited access to specialized weight-management programs for children. Now, a large clinical trial led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of Rochester Medical Center, LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has shown that an effective, family-based treatment model can be delivered in primary care settings to treat children and adolescents with obesity.
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Biomarker Discovery Could Advance Treatments for Obesity-Related Health Risks
Researchers have identified a biological marker that rises and falls as body fat changes, offering new insight into how weight gain and weight loss may influence metabolic health.
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Pennington Biomedical Researchers to Present, Receive Honors at NUTRITION 2026
Researchers from LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center will join thousands of nutrition scientists and professionals from around the world at NUTRITION 2026, the annual flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, or ASN, taking place July 25–28 in National Harbor, Maryland. The meeting will be a particularly significant one for Pennington Biomedical, with researchers receiving major honors from ASN. Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Kaja Falkenhain will receive the Peter J. Reeds Early Career Investigator Award, while Dr. John Apolzan and Dr. Leanne Redman will be recognized as 2026 Excellence in Nutrition Fellows. In addition, Dr. Stephanie Waldrop and Dr. Stephen Hennigar served on the Program Planning Committee for NUTRITION 2026.
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Pennington Biomedical Earns Fifth NIH Renewal for Nationally Recognized Nutrition Obesity Research Center, One of Only 11 in the Nation
LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center has received a five-year, $5.66 million renewal of its Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award, totaling $5,659,389, extends support for the Pennington-Louisiana Nutrition Obesity Research Center through 2031 and reaffirms Pennington Biomedical's position as a national leader in nutrition, obesity and metabolic health research.
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Dr. Philip Schauer Joins the MBS Digest Editorial Board
The MBS Digest welcomed the first of six members to the new editorial board: Dr. Philip Schauer. Dr. Schauer is one of the most-cited and most-referenced researchers in bariatric surgery and metabolic disease. He will be assisting with curating the most relevant articles and news items for our readership. “I joined MBS Digest because I need to help keeping up with the massive influx of innovation in metabolic disease treatment,” Dr. Schauer said. Dr. Schauer is the Mary Kay and Terrell Brown Professor of Metabolic Surgery at Pennington Biomedical Research Center (LSU) and Director of the Metamor Metabolic Institute. Past president of the ASMBS and principal investigator of the landmark STAMPEDE trial, which established metabolic surgery as a durable treatment for type 2 diabetes. He has performed more than 9,000 operations across five continents and authored over 500 papers with more than 53,000 citations.
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Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Kaja Falkenhain Receives Early Career Investigator Award from American Society for Nutrition
Pennington Biomedical Research Center postdoctoral researcher Dr. Kaja Falkenhain has been selected to receive the Peter J. Reeds Early Career Investigator Award from the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), one of the highest honors recognizing emerging scientists in the field of nutrition.
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Louisiana Study Shows Promising Outcomes for Bariatric Surgery in Adolescents and Young Adults with Severe Obesity
A new study from researchers at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, FMOL Health | Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and Metamor Institute demonstrates that metabolic and bariatric surgery can be delivered safely and effectively for adolescents and young adults living with severe obesity, offering promising improvements in weight loss and obesity-related health conditions.
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Dr. Tim Allerton Awarded Up to $3.6 Million NIH Grant to Study New Approach to Advance Heart Failure Research
Dr. Tim Allerton, Assistant Professor and Director of the Vascular Metabolism Laboratory at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, has been awarded a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 research grant totaling up to $3.6 million to investigate a promising new approach to treating one of the fastest-growing forms of heart failure.
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