About the Pennington Center of Biomedical Research Excellence
The Pennington Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) was established through an award from the National Center for Research Resources at NIH. Our COBRE provides support for outstanding junior faculty at the Pennington Center as they transition from training to independence and establish their own extramurally funded research programs.

Main Goal
Our primary goal is to enhance the professional development of COBRE project principal investigators and facilitate their transition to independence as they establish extramurally funded research programs. The long-term goal of our COBRE is to increase the retention of promising young scientists within Louisiana and strengthen our critical mass of scientists devoted to the growing national health problem of obesity and diabetes.

Specific Aims
The specific aims of our COBRE are to:

• Expand the critical mass of investigators in the cell biology of obesity/diabetes research.
• Mentor junior faculty displaying great promise to develop into productive, independent scientists.
• Implement evaluation criteria for junior investigators that enhance their ability to acquire continuous independent extramural funding.
• Foster a collaborative and interactive research environment in which junior investigators may conduct nationally recognized research.
• Strengthen the research infrastructure for obesity and diabetes research by expanding the capabilities of the Genomics and Cell Biology & Imaging core facilities at the PBRC.