Principal Investigator: Sarah Taylor, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition), Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Northwestern Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine Gestational alloimmune liver disease (GALD) is the leading cause of liver failure in newborns. This disease occurs when maternal antibodies injure the liver of the fetus during pregnancy. Infants with GALD require prompt diagnosis and treatment at birth. Even with treatment, about 50% of infants with GALD do not survive. Quickly obtaining a precise and reliable diagnosis remains challenging. DHF’s grant is enabling Dr. Taylor’s lab to create histologic scoring criteria that can be easily disseminated to enable prompt and reliable diagnosis of GALD. Evaluating the ribonucleic acid (RNA) of livers from affected patients, the Taylor team hopes to identify new blood tests that will differentiate GALD from other causes of neonatal liver failure. Dr. Taylor’s research is fostering a better understanding of GALD’s disease process to help launch future research and the development of life-saving therapies for newborns facing this potentially deadly...
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Northwestern Medicine/Feinberg School of Medicine Center for Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics in Gastroenterology The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics in Gastroenterology (AIM-GI) is a first of its kind program developed in a division of Gastroenterology. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have the potential to vastly improve our ability to accurately predict, diagnose and treat our patients living with digestive diseases. Through collaboration with engineers at the McCormick School of Engineering and physician scientists at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, our team has been incorporating mathematical modeling and advanced programming to study the mechanisms that lead to poor gastrointestinal function. This work led to the development of a more formalized center that focuses on three main initiatives. Development of virtual organs which can be used to study the effects of surgery and medications; Development of new hybrid diagnostic tools using AI and machine learning to enhance diagnosis; Using machine learning and neutral networks to predict disease outcome. Although this is a new program, we have already had success developing an NIH funded Center of Research Expertise (CORE) and we have also developed new AI prototypes that can improve diagnostic accuracy and reliability of motility tests. This work is supported by the generosity of the Digestive Health Foundation and these funds help provide the computational power and expertise required to continue to develop these innovative tools. Our goal is to continue invent and develop new approaches and our partnership with the Digestive Disease Foundation will continue to allow us to grow and evolve this...
Principal Investigator: Alyssa Kriegermeier, MD Children with liver disease frequently suffer from jaundice caused by the poor flow of bile from the liver to the intestines—a disease state called cholestasis. Currently no treatments are available that effectively prevent liver failure due to pediatric cholestatic liver diseases. Lifesaving liver transplantation is often the only answer. Cells within the liver deal with the stress from cholestasis via stress-induced pathways known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). While the UPR has been studied in adult liver diseases, little is known about its activation in children. Dr. Kriegermeier previously demonstrated, in an animal model of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), one form of cholestatic liver disease affecting children and adults (about 80 percent of whom also have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD- Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.)), that removing parts of the UPR affects disease progression. This study will seek to better understand the differences in adults and children within this cell stress response during times of cholestasis. Identifying new therapeutic targets will provide a springboard for developing treatments for these children that will hopefully prevent them from needing liver...
Principal Investigator: Aziz Aadam, MD Gastroparesis is a debilitating condition that can cause persistent nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain due to delayed stomach (gastric) emptying. The inability to eat or drink can lead to malnutrition and reduced quality of life. Current treatments are limited in both effectiveness and durability. A minimally invasive endoscopic procedure called G-POEM has recently shown promise in improving spasms of the sphincter muscle that prevent proper gastric emptying. G-POEM involves cutting this smooth band of muscle—that connects the stomach to the small intestine—to prevent further spasms and to allow the stomach to empty. Dr. Cai hopes to identify which gastroparesis patients would most likely benefit from this treatment using two novel methods: EndoFLIP, a probe that measures sphincter flexibility and antroduodenal manometry (ADM), a catheter that measures pressures throughout the upper gastrointestinal tract. Her team will look for specific EndoFLIP and ADM metrics that can be used to more effectively select patients for and predict improvement after...
Principal Investigator: Xiaoying Liu, PhD The term cholestasis describes any condition that impairs normal bile flow from the liver into the bile ducts and then into the intestine. This disease state can cause chronic liver damage, cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease (requiring a liver transplant), and death. Cholestatic liver diseases include primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). Cholestasis also occurs frequently after liver transplantation, which can result in the need for repeat liver transplantation or death. Unfortunately, the molecular drivers of cholestasis are still poorly understood with few effective medical therapies. The liver unfolded protein response (UPR) is a molecular pathway that protects cells from injury. UPR has been demonstrated to be important in many liver diseases, although its role in cholestasis remains unknown. Dr. Liu intends to investigate the activation of the liver UPR pathways in liver transplant patients with cholestasis. Identifying new UPR protein and gene targets will ultimate aid in developing novel drug therapies and improving liver transplant...
