American Liver Foundation backs bold new ideas with $1.1 million in research awards

New grants aim to speed lab ideas toward real help for patients

The American Liver Foundation announced a $1.1 million package of research awards that will be paid out over the coming year to a group of early‑career and established scientists. The awards are meant to move promising lab findings closer to the clinic — from better blood tests that spot liver damage early to experimental therapies that could slow or reverse disease. The money is small in the scale of medical research but timed and targeted to give teams the proof they need to attract larger grants or industry partnerships.

Researchers and institutions selected for Pilot, Liver Scholar, Postdoctoral and Travel awards

This round of awards covers several categories: Pilot grants for new ideas, Liver Scholar awards for early‑career investigators, postdoctoral fellowships, and travel grants for trainees to present work. Named recipients include:

• Dr. Maya Thompson (Johns Hopkins University) — Liver Scholar award for work on immune signaling in fatty liver disease.
• Dr. Luis Ramirez (University of California, San Francisco) — Pilot grant to test a non‑invasive imaging marker for liver scarring.
• Dr. Priya Nair (Mayo Clinic) — Postdoctoral fellowship focused on viral hepatitis persistence.
• Dr. Aaron Klein (Massachusetts General Hospital) — Pilot award for gene‑editing approaches in inherited liver disorders.
• Dr. Kendra White (University of Pennsylvania) — Liver Scholar award studying the gut microbiome’s role in bile duct disease.
• Dr. Samuel Osei (Duke University) — Postdoctoral grant to develop AI tools that read standard scans to flag early cancer risk.
• Two travel awards were also given to graduate students and fellows from University of California San Diego and Emory University to present data at international meetings.

What the funded projects aim to discover and why they could change care

The projects span several common and deadly liver problems: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (often tied to obesity), viral hepatitis, inherited metabolic disorders, bile duct diseases, and liver cancer. A few shared themes stand out.

First, many teams are chasing better, less invasive ways to detect trouble. One project proposes a blood test that combines markers of liver cell stress with signals from the immune system; another uses advanced image analysis to spot scarring before standard methods can. If either works, doctors could identify patients earlier and avoid liver biopsies.

Second, several awards support early gene‑based and cell‑targeted treatments. These are at a lab stage now, but pilot funding will let groups refine delivery methods and show whether a therapy can correct a faulty gene or reroute a harmful immune response in animal models. Success would make it more realistic to launch human trials.

Third, the grants back projects that mix biology with new tools: single‑cell sequencing to map which liver cells drive disease, and machine learning to squeeze more information from everyday scans. These methods aim to turn messy data into clear decisions about who needs treatment and who can wait.

Why these awards matter for patients and the field

For patients, the most immediate benefit is hope for faster, safer diagnosis and more targeted treatments. Many liver diseases progress quietly; the earlier you catch them, the easier they are to treat. For clinicians and researchers, the awards act as a matchmaker: a small, well‑timed sum can help a lab gather proof that unlocks bigger grants or industry collaboration.

In the broader research landscape, the ALF’s focus on early‑career investigators and pilot ideas helps keep the pipeline full. Large federal grants tend to favor ideas that are already proven; these awards fund the riskier steps that often lead to breakthroughs.

Voices from the foundation and the research teams

ALF leadership framed the grants as strategic and patient‑focused. “These awards let creative teams take the next step when traditional funding won’t,” said the foundation’s research director. “We want to turn smart science into treatments people can use.”

Recipients described the award as a career catalyst. “This support lets us test a new biomarker in real patient samples so we can show whether it predicts who will get worse,” said one Liver Scholar. Another pilot awardee added, “With this funding we can refine our delivery system and move toward a first‑in‑human study in a few years if results hold up.”

How the awards are paid for and what comes next

The funding comes from the American Liver Foundation’s research budget, built from donations, community fundraisers and partner contributions. The foundation runs an annual cycle of research grants; application timelines and criteria are announced publicly each year. Researchers interested in future cycles are encouraged to watch the foundation’s announcements and prepare letters of intent when the call for proposals opens.

For now, the $1.1 million will be distributed in the coming months, funding experiments, salary support for trainees, and travel so teams can present early results. The real measure will come next: whether these small bets translate into bigger dollars, clinical trials, or, ultimately, new tools that help people with liver disease live longer, healthier lives.

Photo: Edward Jenner / Pexels

Sources

• prnewswire.com