Research

Gastroenterology Research

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Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have taken on multiple challenges in gastroenterology disorders. Pancreatitis, liver disease, biliary atresia, and inflammatory bowel disease are just a few of the many areas of focus.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Children’s gastroenterology laboratories are leaders in: understanding the physiology of lipases – enzymes that digest fats – and, more specifically, the roles these proteins play in digestion and disease; characterizing the function and regulation of intestinal transporters for water and bile acids; and the pathophysiology and treatment of alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, the most common genetic disease of the liver in childhood.

Children’s gastroenterologists also head multiple clinical studies. Liver disease is under assault from Children’s pediatric gastroenterologists working to advance potential therapies that range from increasing our understanding of biliary atresia and acute liver failure, liver diseases often treated with liver transplantation, to transplanting hepatocytes as a possible cure for many childhood liver diseases. Clinical studies in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease are also a focus of Children’s gastroenterology researchers. These studies include participation in local and national registries to gather data about outcome and treatment of children with inflammatory bowel disease and an innovative and novel study to define the role of behavioral therapy in treating children with inflammatory bowel disease.

Children’s gastroenterology research is both local and international in scope, as the hospital has taken a leadership role in establishment of multicenter studies allowing collaboration and information sharing among experts throughout North America and beyond.