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Our Story

Every day, our clinical work brings us patients with advanced liver disease. In recent years the hepatitis C elimination program in Georgia changed what we see in the clinic. By introducing broad screening, both for the virus itself and for the condition of the liver, the program uncovered a large number of new cases of hepatocellular carcinoma that in earlier years would often have gone undiagnosed. Referrals to our team rose sharply.

With the patients came CT and MRI studies performed in many different centers. Too often these studies did not meet diagnostic requirements, were carried out without sufficient experience, or contained errors. Working with colleagues abroad, we learned that the same problem exists elsewhere, and that it is probably driven by the overload of radiologists: the number of patients simply exceeds what the available specialists can review with the care each case deserves.

As our experience grew, so did awareness of our work, and patients began to reach us from neighboring countries as well. Conversations with international colleagues showed that they too were working under heavy strain. From these conversations came an idea: to use existing artificial intelligence models to support high-precision image interpretation, diagnosis and treatment planning. In liver disease, radiological examination is of exceptional importance, because the first and most complete diagnosis is very often made this way.

Our aim reaches beyond radiology to molecular and early diagnostic markers. Too often a patient arrives when the disease is already advanced. When hepatocellular carcinoma is detected early, the outlook for treatment is substantially better; when it is detected late, the options are frequently limited.

We therefore decided to found an organization with an international character, open to everyone who shares our concern. The Liver Research Network was established in 2025. Through membership, experience can be shared and a community can grow that is able to solve problems no single person can solve alone. Unlike a university, which works on many problems at once, we devote our research directly to one major problem: liver disease.

LIVER RESEARCH NETWORK

Our Mission

We are a global community of people who share one purpose: to improve the lives of patients with liver disease, one step at a time, one disease at a time.

Our members come from many countries and many disciplines. Together we carry out basic science, clinical research and translational research that brings discoveries from the laboratory to the patient.

Medicine today produces far more information than any single person can process: medical images, pathology, laboratory results, genetics and clinical records. That is why we place artificial intelligence at the heart of our work. We combine the creativity and judgment of the human mind with the computing power of AI. People ask the right questions, and AI helps find the answers hidden in vast amounts of data.

We are everywhere, we work as one team, and we are ready to take on serious challenges.

Overview of our Research Program

Our research program connects the clinic, the laboratory and the computer. We start from real clinical problems, study their biological causes and build new tools that can be tested and used in patient care.

Our work spans the whole path of liver disease: from early detection and accurate diagnosis to surgical planning, regeneration of damaged tissue and, in the long term, engineered liver tissue that could reduce the need for donor organs. We work openly with partners worldwide and share what we learn.

Research Directions

AI-Based Diagnostic System

We are developing AI tools that help clinicians see more, earlier and with greater precision.

  • AI algorithms that detect and characterize liver disease on CT and MRI scans
  • Automated liver segmentation and volumetry for surgical planning and transplant evaluation
  • AI-assisted analysis of pathology slides and laboratory results
  • Modeling of surgical interventions to predict outcomes and reduce risk
  • Personalized treatment strategies based on each patient’s data
  • Validation in diverse patient populations, so the tools work fairly for everyone

Liver Regeneration Mechanisms

The liver has a unique ability to repair itself. We want to understand this process and use it to help patients whose livers can no longer heal on their own.

  • Study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of liver regeneration
  • Research on reversing fibrosis and cirrhosis
  • Understanding why regeneration fails in chronic liver disease
  • Development of tissue reconstruction methods
  • Translation of laboratory findings into new therapies

Bioartificial Liver Development

Many patients wait for a liver transplant that comes too late or never comes. Our long-term goal is functional liver tissue created from a patient’s own cells.

  • Laboratory-grown liver tissue and organ development
  • Cell sources, scaffolds and bioengineering methods
  • Biocompatibility and safety studies
  • Transplantation methods for engineered tissue
  • Bridging therapies for patients with liver failure

Research Center Establishment

We are building an international research center where clinical care, laboratory science and data science work side by side.

  • Integration of clinical, laboratory and computational research
  • Infrastructure for imaging, biobanking and data analysis
  • Clinical trials to test new diagnostics and treatments
  • Training for young physicians and scientists
  • International collaboration and open exchange of knowledge