News Articles 41 - 50 of 160

04
May
Gilead Sciences Grant Program Supporting Investigator-Sponsored Research in Hepatitis delta virus (HDV)
News Type: BASL News

Gilead Sciences has announced the launch of a global grant program to support investigator-sponsored research within HDV; HDV DESCRIBE (HDV Epidemiology, Screening and Barriers to Linkage to Care).

The program seeks to better understand HDV patient populations, epidemiology, screening practices and cascades of care.

The program will support individual projects up to $150,000 USD or equivalent sum; projects greater than $150,000 will require approval by Gilead prior to submission.

Successful projects should be able to be completed within 12 months and demonstrate clear objectives, defined timelines, a comprehensive operational plan, and propose data that has relevance to the medical community and policy makers. Priority will be given to studies exploring regional data.

Further information can be read in the program description document available below:
Download Gilead HDV DESCRIBE RFP program description_May2021.pdf

The program will be accepting Letters of Interest between 3rd May and 4th June 2021.

If you have any questions please contact Joyeta.Das@gilead.com .

(Added 4th May 2021)

07
Apr
Now open: Guts UK/BSPGHAN Grants
News Type: BASL News

Guts UK are delighted to announce that Guts UK/BSPGHAN Grants are now open.

Guts UK and the British Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (BSPGHAN) are passionate about supporting research into paediatric gastrointestinal, hepatological and nutritional disorders. Since 2010 we have joined forces to co-fund a biennial grant call.

Guts UK and BSPGHAN have just opened a new grant call to provide financial support for the collection of pilot or proof-of-concept data that will enable a high-quality competitive application to be made subsequently to a research council or other large funder.

Clinician and scientific investigators, including academic clinical lecturers, based at a UK university or hospital may apply. The principal applicant must have a contract of sufficient length to cover the duration of the research project and must have their salary guaranteed for the duration.

One grant, worth up to £40,000 is available for up to two years to fund direct costs associated with the project. Click here for further information.

The deadline is 1st June 2021. Please direct any queries to research@gutscharity.org.uk 

01
Mar
THE GUTS UK / DR FALK PHARMA 2021 AWARDS ARE OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS
News Type: BASL News

The Guts UK/Dr Falk awards recognise the achievements of those who bring new knowledge and insight to the field of gastroenterology, pancreatology and hepatology. These awards are an opportunity to achieve national recognition as well as the financial support for career progression.

Awards available:
A £1,000 prize for the best essay on gastroenterology or hepatology research personally undertaken by medical students who were on an intercalated BSc/MRes/MSc/MPH/MBPhD* course during the previous academic year (2019-20).

Four £1,500 prizes for medical students taking full-time science degrees (BSc/MRes/MSc/MPH/MBPhD*) focusing on gastrointestinal or liver-related disease in the current academic year (2020-21).

Two £2,500 awards for F1/F2 doctors to facilitate prospective research in an area relevant to gastroenterology or hepatology.

A £1,000 award for primary and secondary care gastrointestinal/liver nurses for initiatives that have improved patient care. (Nominate your colleague today for this award).

A £1,000 award for dietitians working in gastroenterology or hepatology for initiatives that have improved patient care.
Up to £10,000 is available for UK-based gastroenterology / hepatology SpR trainees who would like to conduct an audit or quality improvement project in any area of gastroenterology, liver disease or nutrition.

Applications close at 17:00 on April 12th April 2021

For further information and to apply: https://gutscharity.org.uk/research/grants-and-awards/the-guts-uk-dr-falk-awards/ 

* PhD students should note that they may apply for the medical student prize only once during their three-year studentship and that they may apply for the essay prize when their PhD has been completed.

(Added 01.03.21)

08
Feb
COvid-19 vaccination and Biomarkers in cirrhosis And post- Liver Transplantation (COBALT)
News Type: BASL News

The arrival of vaccination for Covid-19 is a very welcome development, particularly after the heavy toll on patients and liver services in 2020. However, the efficacy, or potential for adverse events, of these vaccines in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) or post-liver transplantation (LT) remains unknown. Sub-optimal immune responses to vaccines are common in CLD and post-LT, and thus additional protective strategies may be necessary.

COBALT is a pan-European, large-scale, prospective observational cohort study designed to determine the real-world effectiveness and safety of vaccines for Covid-19 in CLD and post-LT. We invite centres to participate in this effort, co-ordinated by EF-CLIF: www.efclif.com .

21
Jan
The Gilead Research Scholars Program for Liver Disease: Now accepting applications
News Type: BASL News

Gilead’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)

13
Jan
NCEPOD Alcohol-related Liver Disease Survey 2021
News Type: BASL News

All 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)

08
Jan
A joint statement on vaccination for Sars-CoV2 in patients with liver disease
News Type: BASL News

A 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

23
Dec
ACCEA 2021 – ANNOUNCEMENT
News Type: BASL News

The 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

06
Nov
BASL President's Blog
News Type: BASL News

The 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

30
Oct
Frontline Gastroenterology: Call for Trainee Associate Editors
News Type: BASL News

Frontline Gastroenterology are looking to appoint new Trainee Associate Editors.

Closing date 16/11/2020.

For more information click > here