Thanks to generous donations to the Liver Foundation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, QEHB Charity has funded a Research Fellow, Dr Daniel Patten, who is undertaking vital research to help liver patients access treatment before their diseases develop. Daniel, a 29 year old from Burnley, Lancashire, moved to Birmingham three years ago to begin work at the Centre for Liver Research, University of Birmingham as a Research Technician, following a PhD in Medical Microbiology at the University of Huddersfield.

Now in-post as a QEHB Charity-funded Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, Daniel, who lives with his fiancée, Amy Monnington, is working to understand more about inflammation of the liver during chronic disease and has recently started to study a relatively rare cancer, known as neuroendocrine tumours, which often originate in the gut and liver.

He said: “Liver inflammation is a key driving force in all chronic liver diseases; however, the processes involved are still not fully understood. I am currently continuing work on a promising project which has potentially identified a new target for limiting inflammation of the liver and slowing the progression of chronic disease. I have also started working on a new project which aims to increase our knowledge of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs).

“NETs usually occur in older patients and are typically slow to spread to other parts of the body, so the research world hasn’t previously viewed this condition as a priority, compared to more aggressive cancers. Nevertheless, the condition is often very debilitating to the patients and we are trying to increase our scientific knowledge of liver-originating NETs, by finding out what the tumours consist of and which types of cells are present. The end goal is to identify therapeutic targets for patients and to find ways of preventing the tumours from developing.”

Daniel, who is due to be married next year, studied the interaction of gut bacteria with the host during his PhD, which is closely related to the research he is now undertaking. He explained: “The liver receives 80% of its blood supply from the gut, so I’m really interested in continuing my research at the Centre for Liver Research.

“I’m very grateful to QEHB Charity for funding my position, and to everyone who has donated to the Liver Foundation. Without their help, I wouldn’t be able to support patients with my research. When experiments work and you get to see something that no one has seen before, there is no greater feeling. Added to this is the knowledge that you are one step closer towards benefitting patients whose diseases, before this research, would have been very difficult to treat.”

Michael Tivey, Fundraising Officer at QEHB Charity, said: “We are thrilled to have Daniel on board and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who has donated and helped support vital liver research here in Birmingham.”