Translational Gastroenterology and Liver Unit (TGLU)

The Oxford Translational Gastroenterology & Liver  Unit (TGLU) hosts teams of scientists and clinicians working together to tackle major diseases affecting the gut and the liver. This includes cancers, infections and inflammatory diseases. A longstanding interest of the unit is inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease), dating back to the era of Sidney Truelove, who developed the first trials and treatments. Together we are now pursuing studies of vaccines, diagnostics, biomarkers, genetics and new clinical interventions in a range of diseases including coeliac disease, intestinal failure and liver diseases. The unit hosts the Sidney Truelove chair  and  the Lee Placito chair  as well as Professor of Hepatology, Paediatric Gastroenterology and Professor of Molecular Gastroenterology and around 15 Primary Investigators across the different university sites who study various aspects of GI disease at the interface of clinical medicine and basic science. 

There are strong and active local, national and international collaborations. In Oxford, these include  well-established links for collaborative science  with the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Clinical Trials Facility which is co-located within the John Radcliffe Hospital; the Kennedy Institute;  the Translational Immune Discovery unit;  Peter Medawar Institute and  the Centre for Human Genetics. 

It also hosts a core Flow Cytometry Facility that offers a high-quality Flow Cytometry service to a variety of users. The TGLU and flow cytometry facility are supported by the Biomedical Research Centre and Human Immune Discovery Initiative.

The faculty of the TGLU host the Oxford IBD Masterclass, which has been a feature of Oxford Gastroenterology for over 30 years,  attracting clinicians and investigators from all over the world.  The meeting is delivered by an international invited faculty of expert speakers with the programme combining plenary sessions with interactive workshops, ensuring plenty of opportunities to ask questions and discuss with colleagues. The programme for the 2024 Meeting is now available to download here.