WELCOME TO THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE LIVER
The 2021 ACCEA round closes at 5pm on 18th March. Members wishing to be considered for a new national award and would like to seek BASL support must submit an application to BASL by 9am on 1st February. Visit the NEWS page for full details.
BASL2020 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING
21st - 24TH September 2021 - PROVISIONAL DATE
Thank you to our members and to the liver community who supported BASL2020. Presentations from the Virtual annual meeting are now available to view through the OnAir meeting portal. Registrants should use their registration log on details to access. Provisional dates for BASL2021 are Tuesday 21st - Friday 24th September – to include BLTG & BLNA - these dates will be confirmed as soon as possible.
BASL VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING
REGISTER HERE
BLNA VIRTUAL
FORUM
REGISTER HERE
BLTG
MEETING
DETAILS FOLLOW
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BASL AND BASL SUB-GROUPS
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The British Association for the Study of the Liver is a multi-disciplinary society with around 900 members composed of interested individuals from clinical medicine, clinical and basic research and allied professions. |
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British Liver Nurses' Association is a professional nursing organisation aiming to develop knowledge and understanding of liver disease, in order to improve the quality of patient care. |
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The British Viral Hepatitis aims to improve the management and study of patients with chronic viral liver disease, bringing together UK hepatologists, gastroenterologists, infectious disease physicians, virologists and interested epidemiologists. |
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The BLTG (British Liver Transplant Group) was launched in 2014 to represent the professional interests of liver transplantation in the UK and promote strategic and academic development. The BLTG will foster close relationships with BTS (British Transplant Society) and LICAGE (Liver Intensive Care Group of Europe) and will build on the role of the UK and Ireland Annual Meeting by delivering structure and authority to the group. |
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Is a professional pharmacy organisation aiming to develop knowledge and understanding of liver disorders including viral hepatitis, in order to improve the quality of patient care, through medicines optimisation, collaborative and multi-disciplinary working and promoting patient-focused research. |
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HCC UK is a multi-disciplinary organisation aiming to promote collaboration in research, education and clinical service development for primary liver cancer. We bring together leading oncologists, liver surgeons, hepatologists, basic scientists, radiologists, pathologists and specialist nurses to lead improvement in the quality of patient care. |
News
The Gilead Research Scholars Program for Liver Disease: Now accepting applications
Read moreGilead’s Research Scholars Program supports innovative research from emerging investigators around the world to advance scientific knowledge in areas of unmet medical needs. Each award is funded up to $130,000 for two years, to be paid in annual installments of up to $65,000 per year.
The Research Scholars Program for liver disease is currently accepting applications from early-career scientists to support basic, clinical and translational research in the field of liver disease, including but not limited to:
• Chronic viral hepatitis
• End-stage liver disease and its complications
• Non-viral chronic liver diseases
• Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)
• Cholangiocarcinoma (CCC)
The program will be accepting applications until 26th February 2021.
More information on the program, including eligibility criteria and how to submit an application, can be found by visiting the following website: https://researchscholars.gilead.com/en/intl_liver_disease_portal/program-overview
(21.01.21)
NCEPOD Alcohol-related Liver Disease Survey 2021
Read moreAll acute hospital Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be contacted on the 18th January 2021 asking them to respond to a Survey asking about a range of aspects of care for patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD).
This Survey is 10 years after the NCEPOD review of patients who died with ARLD, which made up the 2013 NCEPOD report ‘Measuring the Units’. This is an important piece of work looking at where we are with care provision for this patient group, what has improved and where there is work still to be done. For this to have the most impact, it is crucial that there is strong clinician engagement with their Trusts and we very much appreciate your support with this.
Please contact NCEPOD at arld@ncepod.org.uk to be put in contact with the person at your Trust/Health board to whom the Survey has been sent.
(13.01.2021)
A joint statement on vaccination for Sars-CoV2 in patients with liver disease
Read moreA joint statement from British Society of Gastroenterology, British Association for the Study of the Liver, NHS Blood & Transplant and British Liver Trust.
Patients with liver disease that are considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable, and are at increased risk if they contract COVID-19. This advice refers to this group and to all other patients with liver disease.
- Whilst the vaccine trials have not looked specifically at safety in patients with liver disease, there is no data to suggest harm.
- Although vaccines may be less effective in patients with chronic liver disease and those post-liver transplant, they still provide protection. As yet there is no data specifically on the Sars-CoV2 vaccines
- We recommend that patients with chronic liver disease, autoimmune hepatitis and those post-liver transplant should consider vaccination for Sars-CoV2 with any of the available vaccines.
First published on 08 Jan 2021
ACCEA 2021 – ANNOUNCEMENT
Read moreThe 2021 ACCEA round opened on Monday 7th December 2020 and will close at 17:00 on Thursday 18th March 2021.
DEADLINE for applying for BASL support is 09:00 on MONDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2021.
BASL will need to have completed the process of selecting those applicants who will receive our support well before the ACCEA deadline date.
If you wish to be considered for a new national award in the 2021 round and you would like to seek BASL support, you should submit a copy of your Application Form to the BASL Secretariat.
Applications should be sent to Judy Hawksworth at judy@basl.org.uk by 09:00 on Monday 1st February 2021.
When submitting your application to BASL, please provide the name of an individual who has agreed to write your supporting citation. Please note, we will need to request a citation for every applicant even if the member is not successful in gaining BASL support, in order to meet the tight deadlines imposed by ACCEA.
Please also include a paragraph on your involvement/work with BASL as this will become relevant later in the BASL process.
Follow this link for further information on the Gov UK ACCEA website.
Further information on how BASL decides whom to support can be found in the document below:
Download How BASL Decides_ACCEA 2021.pdf
ACCEA regard the citations provided by BASL as important: they give added value to the process. The citation helps clarify information in the application and can put an individual's contribution into the wider context.
We look forward to receiving your applications.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact judy@basl.org.uk .
18 December 2020
BASL President's Blog
Read moreThe 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus. Labelled a Cinderella story of medicine, investigations for causes and prevention of ‘post-transfusion hepatitis’ started with Harvey Alter an aspiring haematologist who collaborated with Baruch Blumberg leading to the discovery of hepatitis B; Harvey Alter was the second author in the original article (view > here) and the first author of the next describing the characteristics of the ‘Australia antigen’ (view > here).
Harvey Alter later observed that only 20% of transfusion hepatitis was explained by the hepatitis B virus and carried on to demonstrate the transmissibility of the ‘non-A, non-B hepatitis virus ’ in chimpanzees. Michael Haughton led the direct molecular cloning of HCV (view > here). While Blumberg won the Nobel Prize way back in 1976, Alter together with Houghton in 2000 and Charles Rice in 2016 (for his seminal work on HCV replicon system) received the Lasker Award (hailed as a pre-Nobel award).
Following the Lasker Award, Alter said that ‘I am perhaps the thread that links these events, but the story is a fabric woven by many collaborators who played essential parts and by the conducive environment of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intramural program that has nurtured these clinical investigations...My gratitude is without bounds’. He also wrote about the discovery of Australia antigen, a serendipity (view > here).
Houghton’s response to the Nobel award was that ‘We thought it would be solved quickly, but it actually took seven years to find’.
Rice reminisced that ‘Manufacturers are now attempting to lower the price, in part by granting production rights in poorer countries. I would have been much happier had it been more rapid.’ Rice also told the interviewer that the WHO was unlikely to be able to eradicate the virus by 2030, in part because a broadly effective and widely available vaccine was still years away.
An essay on the history of Hepatitis C by Harvey Alter, was recently published online in the AASLD Journal Clinical Liver Disease; Download History Of HCV - BLOG 2020.pdf
Guruprasad Aithal
President, BASL
Events
BASL ArLD SIG meeting
Date: 26th January 2021
Time: 16:00 - 18:00
The meeting will take place via Zoom Webinar.
REGISTRATION
Please read the BASL Events Data Protection Disclaimer below before registering: Download BASL Events Data Protection Disclaimer_2020.pdf
You can register HERE
To view a draft programme click Download ArLD SIG meeting 26th January 2021 - Draft programme.pdf
BASL are pleased to announce that the guest speaker at the forthcoming ArLD SIG meeting will be Dr Jessica Mellinger, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, who led the development of a successful multidisciplinary clinic for the management of alcohol use disorder and ArLD. Dr Mellinger will describe the benefits and challenges of setting up an integrated clinic.
Not a BASL member, you can join by clicking HERE
Please contact kim@basl.org.uk if you have any questions.
It is with great regret that the BASL Portal Hypertension Virtual Special Interest Group meeting has been postponed, due to the Chair and many of the speakers being redeployed to front line duties.
It is the intension to re-schedule the meeting as soon as COVID situation allows.
Should you have any questions, please contact kim@basl.org.uk
REGISTRATION OPEN
Are you a budding Hepatologist? Do you want to improve your Hepatology knowledge to help with core and higher Hepatology curriculum sign off? Have you got Hepatology questions but not had the opportunity to ask them?
If yes then please join us for the BASL Virtual School of Hepatology 2021. We are running a series of monthly webinars on a Wednesday evening.
Session 2: “Screening for liver disease"
Speaker: Dr Andrew Yeoman, Royal Gwent Hospital
Date: Wednesday 17th February
Time: 19:00 – 20:00
The BASL Virtual School of Hepatology Sessions offer an excellent platform for trainees interested in hepatology, with talks delivered by UK Hepatologists, followed by a Q&A session.
See a preview of what's coming up in the next 12 months > Download BASL Virtual School of Hepatology Series 2021_website.pdf
NB: Subject to change
FREE to attend for BASL Members.
Not a member of BASL, then why not join by clicking > here.
REGISTRATION
Please read the BASL Events Data Protection Disclaimer below before registering:
Download BASL Events Data Protection Disclaimer_2021.pdf
Register through Zoom by clicking > here .
Please contact kim@basl.org.uk should you have any questions.
The BLNA Committee are sorry that they have had to postpone the upcoming BLNA webinar.
This decision has not been taken lightly and reflects the evolving situation with COVID-19.
A new date in April or early May is being considered and further details will be announced as soon as they are available.
SAVE THE DATE
Turkish and British Associations for the Study of the Liver (TASL-BASL) are pleased to announce a monothematic conference, “Drug-induced Liver Injury: Unresolved questions and unmet needs”.
The meeting was planned to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, however due to the pandemic the meeting will be held virtually.
We hope that the programme will be a timely and welcome opportunity to reflect upon an area of critical importance for clinicians, researchers, scientists, pharma and other health care professionals.
Drugs and herbs are a common aetiology underlying acute liver injury. The number, variety and mechanism of action of drugs in use continues to expand. Along with this, interest and importance of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) has grown. Dissemination of knowledge related to DILI and a shared understanding is crucial to improve its diagnosis and safety of medications.
On behalf of TASL and BASL, we welcome you to join experts from Turkey and the United Kingdom in this event where we aim to appraise recent advances and emerging context in the field to identify priorities for future collaboration. We are excited to have this opportunity to create a partnership between TASL and BASL as well as to share the cutting-edge information with regards to DILI.
Further details including a programme and how to register for the conference will follow.
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