Keck School of Medicine of USC gastroenterologist Shelly Lu has received the Western Society for Clinical Investigation’s Outstanding Investigator Award.

Lu accepted the honor at the joint plenary session of the Western Society for Clinical Investigation, Western Association of Physicians, Western Society for Pediatric Research and Western Section of the American Federation for Medical Research.

A professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology and liver diseases, Lu is a physician-scientist who is principal investigator of five National Institutes of Health R01 grants — prized grants given to a named researcher for a specific scientific project — and has received more than a decade of uninterrupted NIH funding.

She is also associate director of the NIH-funded USC Research Center for Liver Diseases and associate editor of the American Journal of Physiology: GI and Liver.

Edward D. Crandall, professor and chair of the department of medicine, said he nominated Lu for the award because of her “research creativity, productivity and vision.” Lu has led the charge in researching the role of methylation in liver disease, he noted.

Specifically, she has studied the role of the enzyme methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT), and its different forms, in healthy liver function and disease.

MAT sets in motion the synthesis of S-adenosylmethionine, a substance commonly known as SAMe.

“Collectively, her outstanding contributions have the promise to translate into treatment for human diseases,” Crandall said. “Indeed, SAMe has now been utilized in several trials for the treatment of alcoholic liver disease.”

Her recent work also shows the potential benefits of using such compounds as chemopreventive agents in the treatment of liver cancer.