Several members of the University of Louisville Department of Medicine made an impact at the recent 2017 Research!Louisville competitions, held in conjunction with the event's 22nd annual showcase of health/life sciences research conducted at UofL.

A panel of university faculty judges selected the winners of this year's contest from hundreds of entries in the categories of professional/clinical students, basic science grad students, postgraduates and faculty.

Here's a look at finished at or near the top in their respective categories:

Master's Basic Science Graduate Student Award

• 2nd place: Fengyuan Li - CRAMP Deletion Exacerbates Alcohol-Induced Liver and Pancreas Injury via Regulation of Gut Microbiota and Systemic Inflammasome Activation. Mentor: Wenke Feng

Doctoral Basic Science Graduate Student Award

• 1st place: John Caleb Greenwell - Interplay between aging, lung remodeling, and fibronectin EDA in lung cancer progression. Mentor: Jesse Roman

Postdoctoral Fellow Award

• 2nd place: Hridgandh Donde - Tributyrin Administration Targets Alcohol-induced Pathogenic Mechanisms in the Gut-liver Axis: Relevance to the Development of Therapeutic Strategies in Alcoholic Liver Disease. Mentor: Shirish Barve

• 1st place: Nazimuddin Khan - Human Guanylate Kinase: NMR structure determination and functional investigation of a new biomolecular target for lung cancer. Mentor: T. Michael Sabo

Research Associate Award

• 2nd place: Ray Yeager - Residential Proximity to Green Vegetation is Negatively Associated with Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds. Mentor: Aruni Bhatnagar

Research Staff Award

• Winner: Ernesto Pena Calderin - Exercise-Enhanced Macrophage Phagocytosis And Resolvin Biosynthesis Are Abrogated By A Diet High In Fat. Mentor: Jason Hellmann

• Winner: Bryan Betty - Current Practice of Bronchodilator Reversibility Measurement Underestimates Asthma in the Older Adult

Public Health & Information Sciences

• Master's Student Award: Thomas Chandler - Using Time to Clinical Stability to Predict Long-Term Mortality in Adult Patients Hospitalized for Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Results from the University of Louisville Pneumonia Study. Mentors: Paula Peyrani & Stephen Furmanek

• Doctoral Student Award: Stacey Konkle - The Association of Volatile Organic Compound Exposures with Serum Lipids. Mentor: Aruni Bhatnagar

NCI Cancer Education Program Norbert J. Burzynski Award Professional Student Category

• 3rd place: Taylor Q. Nguyen - Development of novel diagnostic methodologies for diagnosis and monitoring in melanoma. Mentor: Nichola Garbett

NCI Cancer Education Program Norbert J. Burzynski Award Undergraduate Student Category

• 3rd place: Megan Peterson - Evaluating the Potential of Two Copper-Containing Compounds to Selectively Target Cancer Cells. Mentor: Paula Bates

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation Faculty Award - Instructor

• Winner: Ming Song - Dietary Copper-Fructose Interactions Alter Gut Microbial Activity in Male Rats

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Foundation Faculty Award - Assistant Professor

• Winner: Leila Gobejishvili - Correlation between the phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) family of enzymes and inflammatory and fibrotic markers in human livers

Louisville Chapter-Women in Medicine and Science

• 3rd place: Jennifer Koch - Gender Differences in the Experience of Internal Medicine Residents

Excellence in Health Disparities Research Award

• 1st place: Adam Neff - Prevalence and Risk Factors for Anal Dysplasia in HIV-negative and HIV-positive Men Who Have Sex with Men: Results from the 550 Clinic Cohort Study. Mentor: Paula Peyrani