During its latest international congress held in London (April 2014), the “European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL)” awarded one of the prizes for the 5 best works from among 1300 presented to the Biodonostia Institute Hepatic Diseases group, led by Dr. Jesús María Bañales Asurmendi.
In one of the Congress plenary sessions (with over 10,000 people attending), the research group representative, Patricia Muñoz Garrido (who presented the work), received the diploma of honour and the prize money from the EASL Board of Directors.
This prize represents significant recognition for the work being performed in the research group into the study of polycystic hepatic diseases, a type of genetic pathology that affects millions of people throughout the world. Currently the only treatment to cure the disease is a liver transplant so clinical therapies are urgently required.
In this work, the Biodonostia Institute Hepatic Diseases Group has discovered a new mechanism by which the polycystic hepatic disease progresses, and they have discovered a new molecule that blocks this pathological mechanism. This led to a high-visibility publication in one of the best international journals in the field of medicine, the English GUT journal.
In addition, this new molecule with potential therapeutic use is going to be patented nationally and internationally, working with the pharmaceutical company Spherium Biomed S.L. and then used in clinical studies.
This work was an International Study (Mayo Clinic, USA; Ancona Hospital, Italy; CIMA at the UN) led by the Biodonostia Institute.
Patricia Muñoz receives the award from EASL
