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2006 February 28 - University student awarded fellowship to help save the lives of children with li

A student from the University of Birmingham Medical School has been awarded a three year CLDF PhD fellowship by a national children’s charity which may help save the lives of children with liver disease.

Ms Sarah Blair-Reid, 23, of Balsall Heath, has been awarded the PhD fellowship, worth over £70,000, from Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, the only organisation in the UK fighting childhood liver disease.  The project will enable research into biliary atresia, the single most common cause of liver disease in infants.

Biliary atresia, a disease in which the bile ducts become progressively blocked leading to irreversible liver damage, affects 80 babies each year in the UK. Commonly performed corrective surgery (the Kasai procedure) is not curative, with two-thirds of children requiring a transplant, one third before the age of two. 

Sarah and her supervisors at the Institute of Biomedical Research, University of Birmingham Medical School and the Liver Unit, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, will investigate the role of primary or sensory cilia during liver development. Cilia are finger-like structures that poke out from the surface of many lining cells into cavities or tubes in many internal organs, such as bile ducts in the liver, and can sense fluid flow during tissue development. A defect in this sensing mechanism is believed to be associated with biliary atresia. 

The research will also investigate whether there is a genetic component to biliary atresia.  It has already been shown that defects (mutations) in a key gene that controls bile duct development is present in patients with biliary atresia who develop renal cysts later in life.   The research project will see if these mutations occur in other cases of biliary atresia that lack the renal cystic change.

Sarah will work under the supervision of Dr Colin A Johnson, BA (Hons), MA (Oxon), PhD, Dr Simon C Afford PhD, MRC Path and Professor D A Kelly BA, MB, BCh, BAO (Hons), MD, FRCPI, FRCP, FRCPCH.  Successful completion of the project will entitle Sarah to submit the work for a degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities, has awarded two PhD fellowships in 2005 for projects which support its aims.  PhD fellowship applications are reviewed by the CLDF medical advisory committee which comprises of leading researchers and clinicians. 

Sarah says, “I am delighted that the trustees have awarded us a CLDF PhD fellowship.   There is intense international interest in biliary atresia and whether it has a genetic pre-disposition.  As such, this research project could have worldwide impact”. 

Catherine Arkley, Chief Executive of CLDF says, “One of our prime objectives is to promote research into the causes of childhood liver disease. Few people are aware that every day at least two children in the UK will be diagnosed with liver disease, that’s a greater incidence than childhood leukaemia.  This project shows real potential and could offer vital hope for families of children with biliary atresia.  This is a disease which lethal in young babies.  To find its cause is something of a “holy grail” for those involved in caring for children with liver disease.  The outcome will be of international significance”.

CLDF has donated over £4m to pioneering research projects since its inception in 1980, leading to vital advances in understanding and treating paediatric liver disease.

For further information on the work of the Foundation, please visit www.childliverdisease.org or call 0121 212 3839 for a fundraising and information pack.

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Image attached: Left – right: Prof Deirdre A Kelly, Dr Simon C. Afford, Dr Jane L. Hartley, Dr Colin A. Johnson, Ms Sarah Blair-Reid

For further information on this story please contact Rachel Markham,
Children’s Liver Disease Foundation on 0121 212 6012, e-mail: communications@childliverdisease.org

Note to editors:

The Children’s Liver Disease Foundation is a unique national charity that fights childhood liver diseases through funding pioneering research and educating healthcare professionals and the general public. Formed in 1980, it provides professional, emotional support to families affected and is the only organisation of its kind in the UK.

CLDF PhD Student Fellowships:
In 2005 CLDF awarded two prestigious CLDF PhD Student Fellowships to encourage the best young science graduates to embark on a science career in paediatric hepatology research.  Fellowships are awarded to university departments annually by open competition for projects that are relevant to the aims of CLDF.  University departments are invited to submit applications which may include a named student or alternatively students may be recruited by the host department after the award of the fellowship with the approval of CLDF.  Students must submit a brief annual report via their supervisor and progression onto the next year of the Fellowship is dependent upon the report being satisfactory.