Basic Science Seminar
Decoding liver injury: Emerging models and therapeutic targets
About the Basic Science Seminar 2026
Understanding liver injury requires both new experimental models and deeper insight into how different organs, cell types, and biological systems communicate with the liver. Recent advances in organoids, organ-on-a-chip technologies, single-cell tools, and computational approaches now allow researchers to study liver disease with great precision. At the same time, new therapeutic strategies—from metabolic targeting to immunotherapy and cell-based treatments—are rapidly emerging.
The one-day Basic Science Seminar at the EASL Congress 2026 brings together leading scientists working on innovative models of liver injury, inter-organ communication, cutting-edge technologies, and new therapeutic approaches. The seminar features four sessions combining keynote presentations with dual-format lectures and Q&A, designed for researchers, clinicians, trainees, and students who want to better understand liver injury and discover future directions in liver biology and treatment.
Learning Objectives
- Understand new experimental models that help reveal mechanisms of liver injury.
- Learn how communication between organs (gut, immune system, nervous system, kidney) shapes liver disease.
- Explore emerging technologies including single-cell tools and AI, that advance liver research.
- Gain insight into new therapeutic strategies that target metabolism, immune pathways, and regenerative approaches.
Meet the Organisers
Pau Sancho-Bru
Pau Sancho-Bru is Group Leader of the Liver Cell Plasticity and Tissue Repair group at IDIBAPS, and Associate Professor at University of Barcelona. His group is conducting translational research in the field of liver diseases, investigating the role of cell plasticity in wound healing and carcinogenesis. One of the main research interests of his group is the use of stem cells for biomedical and biotechnological applications and particularly to develop 3D organotypic in vitro systems for disease modeling and drug development.
Meritxell Huch
Meritxell Huch obtained her PhD in Barcelona in 2007 and did her postdoc in the Netherlands where she pioneered the generation of organoids from stomach, liver and pancreas. In 2014, she established her independent lab at the Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK where she developed the first human liver organoid models from healthy and diseased human liver tissue. In 2019, she received the Lise Meitner Award and moved to the Max Planck institute in Dresden. In 2022, she was elected Director and Scientific member of the Max Planck Society. She has received several prizes including the Otto Bayer Award and has recently been elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Bernd Schnabl
Dr. Schnabl is a trained gastroenterologist and physician-scientist. He is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Diego, founding Director of the NIH-supported San Diego Digestive Diseases Research Center (SDDRC) and Director of Research for the Division of Gastroenterology. His research focus is to understand the complex multi-directional interactions that occur between the gut microbiota and the liver. Dr. Schnabl has published over 270 papers and was listed by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate as one of the most Highly Cited Researchers (top 1%) in 2019, 2021-2024. He serves as Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology.
Discover the Programme
Session 1. Studying liver injury I: New models
This session introduces advanced models, including liver organoids, organ-on-a-chip platforms, and engineered bile ducts, to better replicate liver injury and improve disease modeling. Read more
Session 2. Studying liver injury II: Inter-organ communication
This session explores how the gut, immune system, nervous system, and kidney influence liver injury, highlighting key cross-organ signals that shape disease progression. Read more
Session 3. Emerging technologies
This session presents cutting-edge tools such as spatial liver zonation mapping, single-cell approaches, and AI-driven analysis that reveal new insights into liver injury. Read more
Session 4. Therapeutic approaches
This session covers innovative treatment strategies, including targeting alcohol metabolism, NK-cell–based cancer immunotherapy, and organoid-based cell therapies for liver repair. Read more
