AMRA Medical and the National University of Singapore Partner to Study NAFLD in Asia

LINKÖPING, Sweden, June 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AMRA Medical – global leader in body composition profiling – will collaborate with the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine on an Asian-centric study to enhance the understanding of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

The collaboration will contribute to Singapore's national research platform called EMULSION: Ensemble of Multi-disciplinary Systems and Integrated Omics for NAFLD, which bridges academic-industry research efforts aiming to model NAFLD in Singaporean and Asian populations.

NUS Medicine researchers will implement AMRA's rapid MRI and automated image analysis methodology in the EMULSION study to classify and quantify various body measurements, including whole-body and localized fat volumes, fat fractions, and lean tissue volumes. To date, AMRA has implemented its methodology in several European and American NAFLD populations to describe the link between body composition profiling biomarkers and NAFLD disease progression; it recognizes that the range of ethnicities in these datasets must be expanded to increase their utility – as NAFLD is a global health issue.  NAFLD is the leading cause of chronic liver disease with a reported prevalence of approximately 25% in Asia.^1-2 This partnership reflects AMRA's dedication to understanding this disease among diverse individuals to more accurately and precisely diagnose liver disease and track disease progression. The study will expand the knowledge of AMRA's biomarkers in Singaporeans and Asians, which could potentially reveal key disease drivers within these specific populations.

Dr. Dan Yock Young, EMULSION Study principal investigator, and Head of Medicine at NUS Medicine said, "Asia has a high incidence of non-obese fatty liver, which is believed to be due to the insulin resistance from visceral adiposity and sarcopenia. Conducting this study with AMRA will allow us to characterize and subphenotype our patients better."

Eric Converse, Chief Executive Officer at AMRA commented, "We are excited to start this collaboration as we could potentially identify population-specific biomarkers for NAFLD and further unmask and differentiate the drivers of this disease."

AMRA is at the forefront of medical imaging and precision medicine and is dedicated to supporting transformative care. Read more at amramedical.com

1. https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(18)32517-0/fulltext
2. https://www.journal-of-hepatology.eu/article/S0168-8278(17)32073-1/fulltext

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SOURCE AMRA Medical