A 2012 alumnus of the Wayne State University School of Medicine graduate program was honored for his research last month at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Xiaoyu Jiang M.D., Ph.D., won the Cora Verhagen Prize for his poster presentation of "The Role of Autophagy in Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Keratitis" at the meeting, held May 5-9 in Seattle.

The award is presented annually to the best ocular immunology poster or paper presentation. His was part of an immunology and microbiology poster session on corneal infection and inflammation.

The Association for Research and Vision in Ophthalmology is the largest eye and vision research organization in the world, made up of more than 12,500 eye and vision researchers from 80 countries. The Maryland-based organization encourages and assists research, training, publication and knowledge-sharing in vision and ophthalmology.

Dr. Jiang is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Linda Hazlett, Ph.D., distinguished professor and chair of the School of Medicine's Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.

"I am happy to have received this award and it is a privilege to present my work to a group of renowned scientists in the areas of immunology and ophthalmology," Dr. Jiang said. "I also appreciate all of the training from my advisor, Dr. Hazlett."

The study provides evidence that autophagy - a pro-survival mechanism involving cell degradation of unnecessary cell components - plays an important role in bacterial infections of the cornea.

Dr. Jiang received $250, a bronze medallion and a plaque.

He began his doctoral studies at the School of Medicine in 2008, and joined Dr. Hazlett's lab in 2009. He completed his doctoral studies in 2012, and chose to remain in the lab as a postdoctoral fellow to further his research and grant-writing skills, he said. He received his medical degree from Hebei Medical University in northern China.