Amar Nijagal, MD Awarded Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS Faculty Research Fellowship from American College of Surgeons
Pediatric surgeon-scientist Amar Nijagal, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Surgery, has been awarded the 29th Franklin H. Martin, MD, FACS Faculty Research Fellowship from the American College of Surgeons. His research will study the role of neutrophils and monocytes during the initiation and resolution of neonatal liver inflammation.
Dr. Nijagal’s laboratory is focused on the immune regulation of liver development and perinatal liver inflammation. Using an infectious model of neonatal liver inflammation, Dr. Nijagal's group has made the striking observation that the depletion of either neutrophils or inflammatory monocytes (iMos) results in worse survival of infected neonatal mice; the depletion of both populations, however, rescues mice from liver injury and death. Based on these preliminary data, Dr. Nijagal and his team hypothesize that neutrophils and monocytes work in concert to regulate neonatal inflammation and tissue repair. This line of investigation has direct implications for biliary atresia, a devastating neonatal cholangiopathy that can lead to liver fibrosis and liver failure within a matter of months.
Dr. Nijagal’s research is supported by American Pediatric Surgical Association and his mentors, Jackie Maher, MD, William and Mary Ann Rice Memorial Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at ZSFGH, AND Cliff Lowell, MD PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine at UCSF.