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Monday, 28 November 2011

The incidence of liver diseases, which has doubled in Australia in the last 10 years, is the focus of an international conference at The University of Western Australia.

Professor George Yeoh, who heads liver cancer and liver stem cell research at UWA and its affiliate, the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, said the incidence of liver cancer is predicted to double again within the next 10 years, making it one of the 10 most common causes of cancer death in Australia.

The inaugural " Liver Down Under " conference has brought international and national experts to Perth to advance liver research by fostering the exchange of ideas, methodology and research tools.

"Chronic liver disease had an enormous social and economic impact on the community," Professor Yeoh said.

"Liver cancer is also highly resistant to chemotherapy and rarely responsive to radiotherapy.  We don't know anything about cellular and molecular changes in relation to how liver cancer starts, its progression and ultimate development. This knowledge is essential to help develop effective strategies to prevent and treat liver cancer."

Professor Yeoh said the incidence of chronic hepatitis C infection is also on the rise and affects about 200,000 people in Australia.  Metabolic liver disease is the most common liver condition in developed countries such as Australia.  "The incidence is currently 10 per cent of all adults and this is expected to rise as the rate of diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity increases," he said.

Plenary speaker Dr Andras Nagy is credited as leading Canada in stem cell research as the senior investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.  He will discuss the latest approaches to reprogram non-stem cells into stem cells to use in regenerative medicine for possible cures for devastating illnesses such as spinal cord injury, muscular degeneration, diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

World leading researchers from Europe, USA, Canada and Japan specialising in liver development and regeneration and chronic liver conditions such as cancer fibrosis, stem cell therapy and tissue engineering will discuss the latest developments.

The conference is from today to 2 December at the University Club.

* Atsushi Miyajima, Marco Tripodi, Mary Weiss and Frédéric Lemaigre will discuss liver development and regeneration;

* Jens Marquardt, George Michalopoulos and Satdarshan Monga will discuss chronic liver conditions such as cancer;

* Scott Friedman will discuss fibrosis;

* David Shafritz and Sanjeev Gupta will discuss and stem cell therapy; and

* Stephen Duncan, Markus Grompe, Michelle Barton and Edward Schmidt will discuss tissue engineering.

Media references

Professor George Yeoh (WAIMR)  (+61 8)  6488 2986
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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