News & Events: Biliary Atresia

Amar Nijagal, M.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, was awarded a Pilot/Feasibility Award from the UCSF Liver Center, of which he is now an associate member. An external advisory board comprised of leading liver scientists evaluated applications for this award. Dr. Nijagal's research proposal, "The Role of Monocytes on The Resolution of Perinatal Hepatic Inflammation", was among three chosen for this highly competitive award. Dr. Nijagal's laboratory focuses on perinatal inflammation of the liver as it can have life-threatening consequences, particularly in infants and [...]

Pediatric surgeon-scientist Amar Nijagal, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Surgery, has been awarded the 29th Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS Faculty Research Fellowship from the American College of Surgeons. His research will study the role of neutrophils and monocytes during the initiation and resolution of neonatal liver inflammation.   Dr. Nijagal's laboratory is focused on the immune regulation of liver development and perinatal liver inflammation.  Using an infectious model of neonatal liver inflammation, Dr. Nijagal's group has made the striking observation that the [...]

Amar Nijagal, M.D., assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Pediatric Surgery, received the Jay Grosfeld MD Scholar Award from the American Pediatric Surgical Association Foundation (APSAF) at the 2018 APSA annual meeting. Dr. Nijagal was one of two junior faculty honored with the highly competitive award for his grant proposal, "Investigating the fetal mechanisms of liver and bile duct repair: a link to the prenatal origins of biliary atresia". The Department of Surgery is also pleased to announce the launch of the Nijagal Lab website. The lab will study how immune cells regulate [...]

UCSF News reports that on a study that suggests maternal liver grafts more tolerable for children with biliary atresia, a rare, life-threatening disease, results that may have important implications for counseling parents on organ donation Children with a rare, life-threatening disease that is the most common cause of neonatal liver failure – biliary atresia – better tolerate liver transplants from their mothers than from their fathers, according to a UCSF-led study. In the study, researchers reviewed all pediatric liver transplants nationwide from 1996 to 2010, and compared the outcomes [...]