Research

Our focus...

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an "equal opportunity" disease, affecting both children and adults. It is the most common chronic liver disease in the U.S. and presents a tremendous public health issue to both young and old because it can kill liver cells, leading to scarring and irreversible liver damage.

One stage in the spectrum of NAFLD is nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an accumulation of fat in the liver linked to liver damage, inflammation and various degrees of scarring and fibrosis. About 25% of NASH patients progress to cirrhosis and potentially to further more extreme complications such as liver failure and liver cancer. However, the underlying cellular chain of events underlying the path that leads to NAFLD/NASH has been poorly understood... until now. 

New research has explained how NAFLD/NASH progresses, providing insight that has already led to a new noninvasive technique to replace the invasive liver biopsy as a means of disease detection and could mean new strategies to prevent the disease.

The group of researchers led by Dr. Ariel Feldstein are pushing the boundary of knowledge pertaining to the biochemical mechanisms underpinning the disease states known as NAFLD and NASH.​​​​​