Dr Wei-Yu Lu, a Birmingham Fellow within the Centre for Liver and Gastrointestinal Research, has been awarded the Young Investigator Research Award from PSC Partners Seeking a Cure.
PSC Partners Seeking a Cure is a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing education and support to primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) patients, families and caregivers and to raising funds to research causes, treatments and cures for this rare disease.
This two-year research award aims to support promising researchers who are at the early stages of their research career and are interested in clinical, translational or basic research on PSC.
With the support of PSC Partners Seeking a Cure, Dr Lu will work with clinicians and scientists within the institute to investigate the role of T regulatory cells during the disease progression of PSC with novel in vivo models. T regulatory cell is a cell type specialized in controlling immune response. This work will potentially understand the role of Treg in PSC disease progression and identify targets for potential treatments.
PSC is a disease affecting the bile ducts, causing obstructive flow of bile into the intestines from the liver. There is currently no effective cure for PSC, and the exact cause of PSC remains elusive, although it is thought to be immune related.