Several members of the University of Louisville Department of Medicine had good showings in the recent 2016 Research!Louisville competitions, held in conjunction with the event's 21st 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:

Norton Healthcare Medical Student Award

• 2nd place TIE: David Hagan - HDAC1 Depletion in Human Cardiac Mesenchymal Stromal CellsFacilitates Paracrine-Mediated Endothelial Cell Growth and Tube Formation Through a Mechanism Involving Enhanced bFGF Production and Secretion. Mentor: Joseph B. Moore IV, Ph.D.
• 1st place TIE: Austin King - Two Nrf2 Inducing Compounds Regulate Renal Tubule Cell Signaling. Differently. Mentor: Michelle Barati, Ph.D.

Research Associate Award

• 2nd place: Maria Rosa Velasquez Espiritu - Staphylococcus Aureus is a Primary Etiology in Hospitalized Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in Louisville, KY: Results from the University of Louisville Pneumonia Study

Research Staff Award

• Winner: John Zhao - The Benzamide HDAC1 Inhibitor Entinostat Enhances the Therapeutic Potency of Human Cardiac Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in a Model of Chronic Heart Failure. Mentor: Joseph B. Moore IV, Ph.D.

Public Health & Information Sciences

• Master's Student Award: Stephen P. Furmanek - Automating Process Control Charts in Infection Control Using Open Source Software. Mentor: Timothy Wiemken

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

• 2nd place: Corey Ketchem - Novel Drug Combinations Sensitize Leukemia Cells to a Bcl-2 Inhibitor. Mentor: Levi Beverly, Ph.D.

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

• 3rd place TIE: Benjamin Fouts - Characterization of Acidic pH Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Ovarian Cancer Diagnostics. Mentor: Lacey McNally, Ph.D.
• 2nd place TIE: Kyle Bilyeu - Sensitizing Pancreatic Cancer Cells to Chemotherapeutics by Modulating Intracellular Iron Homeostasis. Mentor: John Eaton, Ph.D.

Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's Foundation Basic Science Research Faculty Award

• Winner: Walter Watson, Ph.D. - Aging Alters Cystine Transport, Regulation of the Extracellular Redox Environment, and Expression of Extracellular Matrix Components in Primary Mouse Lung Fibroblasts

JGBCC High School Scholars

• 3rd place: Mary Grace Stachnik - RASSF1A Links Ras to the Regulation of Protein Acetylation. Mentor: Howard Donninger, Ph.D.
• 2nd place: Emily Guernsey - Inhibition of 6-Phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (PFKFB4) Induces Cell Cycle Arrest. Mentor: Sucheta Telang, MBBS

Ruth Greenberg Award for Excellence in Medical Education Research

• 3rd place: Jennifer Koch, M.D. - An Internal Medicine Didactic Curriculum Undergoes a 21st Century Redesign