.:. About .:.
     Laboratory for Advanced Biomedical Informatics (LABi) represents the foundation of biomedical informatics activities at LSUS and provides an academic and research environment where faculty, researchers and students from a wide range of fields work shoulder-to-shoulder, solving real-life problems.
     At LABi, the computer scientists learn the ins and outs of biology and chemistry, while life scientists learn the intricacies of computer science. The results of this cross-pollination of expertise are sophisticated and biologically relevant tools, techniques, and applications in an important emerging field called biomedical informatics.
     The National Institutes of Health's Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative Consortium defines biomedical informatics as "research, development or application of computational tools and approaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral or health data."
     As biomedical informatics experts, we at LABi are making use of powerful computers to help manage and analyze biological, chemical and medical processes in the interest of improving medicine, assisting with diagnostic techniques to therapeutics and patient information. Our stock in trade are databases: gene and protein sequence data, structure/function information, patient databases, and a wide assortment of data collections from biological research.
     Our mission is to facilitate, promote, and harness interdisciplinary research related to biomedical informatics, data mining, information storage and retrieval, visualization, and high-performance computing, just to name a few.
     The ultimate goal of biomedical informatics is to turn these complex and diverse data sets into useful and valuable knowledge that enhances the understanding, prevention, and treatment of a variety of diseases-from cancer to diabetes to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
     LABi is located in the Department of Computer Science in the newly renovated Technology Center, a home to major research laboratories.


.:. Current LABi Staff .:.
Co-director: Dr. Urška Cvek, Sc.D., MBA [Slovenia]

  • Professor of Computer Science

  • Lisa Burke Professor of Bioinformatics

  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Feist-Weiller Cancer Center @ LSUHSC-S

Co-director: Dr. Marjan Trutschl, Sc.D. [Slovenia]

  • Professor of Computer Science (LSUS)

  • Abe Sadoff Distinguished Chair in Bioinformatics

  • Director of LSUS/LSUHSC-S NIH/COBRE Bioinformatics Core Facility

  • Adjunct Associate Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology @ LSUHSC-S

Research Scientist: Phillip Kilgore [USA]

Research Assistants:
Eric Clifford (Graduate RA) [USA]
Eric Ekekwe (Graduate RA) [Nigeria]
Jeremy Severic (Graduate RA) [USA]
Billy Tran (Graduate RA) [USA]

.:. Former LABi Research Assistants .:.

  • Dr. Adeola Adedokun [Nigeria] (deceased due to COVID-19)

  • Reuben Ajayi [Nigeria] (TBA)

  • Steven Burke [USA] (TBA)

  • Jordan Berroteran [USA] (TBA)

  • Joseph Doss [USA] (Future State @ University Health System, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • John Fisher [USA] (Electsolve, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Blake Holloway [USA] (Praeses, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Phillip Kilgore [USA] (Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • John Nelson [USA] (TBA)

  • Jennifer Smith [USA] (Willis Knighton Health System, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Matthew Baker [USA] (Praeses, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Evan Boswell [USA] (Software & Services, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • John Cannon [USA] (Magic Leap, Dania Beach, Florida)

  • William “Cade” Cannon [USA] (Mecum Auctions, Chicago, Illinois)

  • Christina Cowart [USA] (City of Shreveport, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • David Gitonga [Kenya] (Dallas, Texas)

  • Mukesh Katla [India] (TBA)

  • Jinhyun Kim [USA] (Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia)

  • Lalasa Lakamsani [India] (TBA)

  • Mikyong “Mikko” Hackler [Korea] (Niceville, Florida)

  • Bijay Maharjan [Nepal] (Charles Schwab, Austin, TX)

  • Charles McCarthy [USA] (Praeses, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Brent Nycum [USA] (Metro Aviation, Inc., Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Hope Prelow [USA] (Raytheon, Richardson, Texas)

  • Srđan Ristić [Serbia] (PioneerRx Pharmacy Software, Shreveport, LA)

  • Phoebe Rollyson [USA] (LSU Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Dr. Randolph “Randy” Stone [USA] (US Army Institute of Surgical Research, San Antonio, Texas)

  • Jeremiah Slack [USA] (SkyCoach, LLC, Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Kenneth Smith [USA] (TBA)

  • Rodney Thompson [USA] (TBA)

  • John "Trey" Wessler [USA] (Metro Aviation, Inc., Shreveport, Louisiana)

  • Ashico Wilson [Aruba] (Southlake Regional Health Centre, Ontario, Canada)