Branched chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) is overexpressed and hypomethylated in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease who experience adverse clinical events: A pilot study.

My research focuses on genetic predictors of progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). I have investigated predictors of clinical progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease using the Duke NAFLD clinical database and biorepository. I find the genetic and modifiable risk factors for liver disease fascinating, particularly because of the potential for clinical intervention before cirrhosis or HCC are established.

Our lab has a long standing interest in liver injury and repair. To learn more about the mechanisms that regulate this process, we study cultured cells, animal models of acute and chronic liver damage and samples from patients with various types of liver disease. Our group also conducts clinical trials in patients with chronic liver disease. We are particularly interested in fatty liver diseases, such as alcoholic fatty liver disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Research by our group has advanced understanding in two main areas: 1) immune system regulation of liver injury and regeneration and 2)the role of fetal morphogens, such as the hedgehog pathway, in regulating fibrotic responses to liver damage. Our basic research programs have been enjoyed continuous NIH support since 1989. We welcome students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting scientists who have interests in this research area to contact us about training opportunities and potential collaborations.

Since 2001 we have also been an active participant in the NIDDK-funded Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network (NASH CRN), a national consortium comprised of 8 university medical centers selected to generate a national registry for patients with NAFLD and to conduct multicenter treatment trials for this disorder. We are actively recruiting patients for this program, as well as a number of other industry-supported NAFLD studies.

Dr. Murphy is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. As a molecular biologist with training in human epigenetics, her research interests are largely centered around the role of epigenetic modifications in health and disease. 

Dr. Murphy has ongoing projects on gynecologic malignancies, including approaches to eradicate ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and later give rise to recurrent disease. Dr. Murphy is actively involved in many collaborative projects relating to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).

Her lab is currently working on preconception environmental exposures in males, particularly on the impact of cannabis on the sperm epigenome and the potential heritability of these effects. They are also studying the epigenetic and health effects of in utero exposures, with primary focus on children from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a pregnancy cohort she co-founded who were recruited from central North Carolina between 2005 and 2011. Dr. Murphy and her colleagues continue to follow NEST children to determine relationships between prenatal exposures and later health outcomes.

My research interests focus on the study of chronic liver disease and primary liver cancer, particularly from metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  As part of the MASLD Research Team at Duke, we are investigating the role of environmental contaminants, epigenetics, and genetics on the development of advanced fibrosis and liver cancer from MASLD and other chronic liver diseases.  We are also interested in understanding risks for progressive liver disease including developmental programming and in utero exposures and have been investigating these risks through studies of the Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST).  The long term goal of our research is to develop non-invasive biomarkers to identify those patients at increased risk for cirrhosis and end stage liver disease in order to risk stratify patients as well as to develop better preventative and therapeutic strategies.