UK-based scientist Dr Meritxell Huch, from Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, has been declared the winner of the Hamdan International Award for Medical Research Excellence for her study on liver disorders.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, the UAE Minister of Finance and the Patron of the Award, will present the award to Dr Huch at a grand ceremony to be held in Dubai, UAE, on December 14, said a statement from the Hamdan Medical Award organisers.

Besides her, 14 other eminent personalities and organisations from US, France, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, will be honoured, it stated.

"Dr Huch's research is focused on the contribution of stem cells to the regeneration of adult liver and pancreas tissues as well as on the development of organoid cultures for these endodermal organs (stomach, liver and pancreas). She has established a new culture system that maintains the self-renewal status of liver stem cells in vitro, while differentiation towards functional liver cells can be induced by modulating key signaling pathways", said the organisers.

"Dr Huch and colleagues located the specific type of stem cells responsible for this regeneration. By isolating these cells and placing them in a culture medium, the researchers were able to grow organoids, they stated.

"The British scientist is now moving on to testing it with human cells, which would not only be more relevant to research into human disease, but would also lead to the development of a patient's own liver tissue for transplantation," they added.

Beside Dr Huch, two US scientists have won the award for Medical Research Excellence.

Prof Sanford Markowitz, Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Cleveland Ohio, bagged the award for his work on colon disorders, while Prof David Tuveson, the deputy director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Centre, New York, won it for pancreatic diseases.-TradeArabia News Service