Judith Smith, MD, PhD was recently awarded over $41,000 from the UW Graduate School for her project, “The interaction of IFN-beta and endoplasmic reticulum stress in mediating hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury.” The objective of this project is to elucidate the pathogenesis of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury with the expectation of identifying new potential therapeutic targets that will improve the outcome of transplantation. The results of these studies will have wider implications for diseases involving transient decrease in blood flow including non-liver transplants, trauma, major organ surgery, cerebrovascular stroke, and myocardial ischemia.