2008 ALF & AASLD Research Award Winners

Winners of the 2008 ALF & AASLD Research Awards have been announced.

The 2008 Research Awards Program awarded $950,000 to twelve applicants, including:

• 3 Liver Scholar Awards
• 1 Biliary Atresia Special Research Initiative Award
• 1 Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Special Research Initiative Award
• 8 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Awards

2008 Liver Scholars

American Liver Foundation Liver Scholar
Lee F. Peng, MD, PhD
The General Hospital Corporation d/b/a Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
Discovery, Design and Characterization of Modulators of Hepatitis C Virus Replication

New England Run for Research Liver Scholar
Songling Liu, MD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX
Post-translational Regulation of Sinisoidal Endothelial Cell eNOS by the GPCR Interacting Protein GIT 1

American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Liver Scholar
Costica Aloman, MD
Mount Sinai Medical School Mount Sinai Hospital
New York, NY
Modulation of Liver Fibrosis by Dendritic Cells

2008 Special Research Initiatives

Thomas F. Nealon, III Biliary Atresia Special Research Initiative, honoring Zachary Rue
Jane Huiru Wang, MD, PhD
Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL
Molecular Mimicry in Pathogenesis of Biliary Atresia

Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Special Research Initiative
Joseph J. Palermo, Jr., MD, PhD
Washington University
St. Louis, MO
Role of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection in Immune Mediated Cholangiopathy

2008 Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

Irwin M. Arias, MD Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Sergio A. Gradilone, PhD
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, MN
TRPV4 as a Potential Target to Reduce the Hyperproliferative Phenotype of Cholangiocytes in Polycystic Liver Disease

Roger L. Jenkins, MD Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Tina L. Sumpter, PhD
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
Molecular Crosstalk and the Regulation of Tolerance in Liver Dendritic Cells

Herman Lopata Memorial Hepatitis Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Nam-Joon Cho, PhD
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Hepatitis C Virus Replication in Optimized Hydrogel-based Hepatic Tissues

Congressman John Joseph Moakley Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Xiaosong Jiang, MD
University of California Davis Health System
Sacramento, CA
The Role of Hepatic Stellate Cell Proliferation in Liver Fibrogenesis

Hans Popper Memorial Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Xinqin Kang, PhD
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY
Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4 and Lipid Export in Alcoholic Liver Disease

Dean Thiel Memorial Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Benoit C. Callendret, D.V.M., PhD
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Columbus, OH
Immunity Against Hepatitis C Virus Upon Superinfection

Charles Trey, MD Memorial Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Johannes Kluwe, MD
Columbia University Medical Center
New York, NY
Role of NK-kB in the Crosstalk Between Kupffer Cells and Hepatic Stellate Cells

Alexander M. White, III Memorial Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Ajay K. Jain, MD
Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, TX
Role of Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) and Fibroblast Growth Factor 19 (FGF19) In Parenteral Nutrition Associated Liver Disease (PNALD)

Page updated: April 1st, 2008