Guru Aithal

Biography

Professor Aithal has been a Consultant Hepatobiliary Physician at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust since 2001. He is the Lead Director of the NIHR Nottingham Digestive Diseases Biomedical Research Unit, and the Head of Division for the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, University of Nottingham. He is also a Professor of Hepatology at The University of Nottingham.

Research Interest

Quantitative and dynamic MRI techniques in chronic liver disease: In collaboration with Prof Penny Gowland and Dr Susan Francis (Sir Peter Mansfield MRI Centre), we have validated simple, non-contrast MRI methods to quantify fat, inflammation, iron and fibrosis within the liver. We will use quantitative and dynamic MRI techniques to investigate the pathophysiology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and portal hypertension. We will evaluate the relationship between splanchnic perfusion, bowel transit and bacterial translocation. We will use MR spectrospcopic methods to evaluate the effects of dietary and life style interventions in chronic liver diseases Dietary, life style and genetic factors associated with the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): Considering its prevalence, any intervention that is proposed in the prevention and therapy of NAFLD, essentially has to be applicable to a substantial proportion of the population. Currently, I am collaborating with Prof Macdonald, Prof Andy Salter and Dr Andrew Bennett to investigate intense dietary interventions in bariatric surgery patients. I have also established collaboration with Institute of Population Health and Science, Trevandrum and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India; in a well characterized population based cohort we will investigate the interaction between dietary and environmental factors related to the development of NAFLD. Identification, development and validation of markers of liver injury: As a co-chair of International DILI Consortium (iDILIC), I have collected a large cohort of deeply phenotyped patients with DILI for pharmacogenetics studies. We will perform large scale case-control association studies using 'whole genome genotyping/ exon sequencing' methods to identify novel genetic factors underlying DILI pathogenesis.