A researcher at the University of Saskatchewan says, “We think we have something new that will be beneficial for the people of Canada and for Saskatchewan.
Dr. Scott Widenmaier  and his team are studying fatty liver disease.
He explains that it affects about a quarter of all adult Canadians and in most cases it is relatively benign, but for about a million Canadians, it becomes much more serious, leading to liver failure, liver cancer, cardiovascular failure and stroke.
Widenmaier says they have already had great progress, finding two molecules that seem to sense when stress is around and guard against it.
Now they need to figure out how these molecules guard against disease and how to stimulate them to make the liver more resistant.
He emphasizes they are still in the early stages, but the biological process they are studying is different than any other candidate in the market right now.
The research team has been awarded a five-year $807,000 grand from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to continue its work.