The Liver Meeting - Digital Experience

Following my attendance of TLMdX – AASLD* the Liver Meeting – Digital Edition, - I want to share my experience with this event. Of course, in person communication is a key, and having an opportunity to see and talk to people has enormous benefits in establishing and preserving good relationships. In the meantime, virtual event has its own benefits, which are very difficult to achieve with the in-person event.

I was excited to have an opportunity to join a discussion with three (!) 2020 Nobel Prize winners in Physiology and Medicine at once: Drs. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice. I am not confident that in the case of a non-digital conference it would have been possible to get all these amazing researchers to change their schedule and show up in person to attend the exciting session of their personal stories which led to the Nobel Prize in Hepatitis C.

Their groundbreaking research identified the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) – a blood-borne pathogen that causes acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer – and laid the foundation for the future development of a cure.

Another exciting opportunity at the event was a session on COVID-19 with the updates from Dr. A. Fauci and other researchers and public health professionals. It was interesting to learn about Korea experience: the country managed to maintain their infection rates without negatively impacting their healthcare without imposing lockdown. It was a surprise to learn that Korean government provided free COVID-19 testing and treatment not only to Korean citizens but also to foreigners.

As the conference has significant focus on hepatitis and metabolic liver diseases, I am happy to note that conference had few posters where PhoenixBio products were used to generate scientific results: https://www.dhirubhai.net/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6733740540589961216

With the increased interest in NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) and NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), I would like to mention that PhoenixBio have presented a poster "Estimating drug efficacy with a diet-induced NASH model in chimeric mice with humanized liver". In this study PXB-mice were used to investigate the efficacy of Elafibranor in NASH mouse model generated by feeding a choline deficient, L-amino acid defined, high fat diet (CDAHFD).

In summary, I would like to say that though I hope to meet my colleagues in person next year, the digital experience which AASLD* offered us this year was a success! I am positive that established online access and networking platforms can be successfully used in addition to face-to-face discussions. And the cherry on the top: though the meeting is officially over, we still have an access to most of the sessions "on demand" - for the next three months!

*- AASLD - American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases