The Academic Conference of the Abdominal Surgery Group of the Pediatric Surgery Branch of the Chinese Medical Association was recently held in Guangzhou. Assistant Professor Yan Chen, Assistant Director of the Precision Regenerative Medicine Research Centre (PRMRC) at Macau University of Science and Technology, Assistant Professor Bo Li, and team members attended the event and engaged in academic exchanges with pediatric surgery experts from across China. Discussions centered on biliary atresia, liver fibrosis, pediatric intestinal diseases, and translational medicine.

Assistant Professor Bo Li exchanges ideas with pediatric surgeons from Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University

The conference highlighted clinical and research advances in pediatric abdominal surgery, with sessions covering hepatosplenic diseases, portal hypertension, pancreatic disorders, biliary diseases, Hirschsprung disease, anorectal malformations, and rare abdominal surgical conditions. Surgeons and researchers from children’s hospitals, general hospitals, and university-affiliated hospitals shared progress in clinical management, surgical innovation, clinical research, and translational studies.

During the conference, Yingying He, a student supervised by Assistant Professor Bo Li, delivered an oral presentation entitled “Cholestatic Injury-Induced Intestinal Fibrosis and Epithelial Dysfunction May Contribute to Post-Kasai Cholangitis in Biliary Atresia.” The presentation introduced the team’s recent findings on mechanisms underlying post-Kasai cholangitis, intestinal fibrosis, and epithelial dysfunction, offering new insights postoperative complications in biliary atresia from the perspective of liver-intestine interaction and tissue injury repair.

Yingying He, a student supervised by Assistant Professor Bo Li, delivers an oral presentation

Assistant Professor Yan Chen chaired a session on biliary atresia, joining experts in discussions on the diagnosis and treatment, immunopathological mechanisms, organoid research, post-Kasai management, and clinical translation. Assistant Professor Bo Li also exchanged views on liver fibrosis, pediatric intestinal diseases, tissue injury repair, and potential collaborations involving clinical samples and translational research.

Assistant Professor Yan Chen chairs a session on biliary atresia

Following the conference, Assistant Professor Bo Li and colleagues visited Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University for further academic exchange. They met with Professor Kai Wu and his pediatric surgery team to explore collaborations in pediatric intestinal diseases, necrotizing enterocolitis, tissue injury repair, and translational medicine. Both sides discussed cooperation in clinical sample resources, disease models, research grant applications, and talent exchange, laying the foundation for PRMRC to expand its pediatric medicine collaboration network in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

This participation strengthened PRMRC’s ties with leading pediatric surgery experts and clinical centers in China, reflecting the Centre’s continued development in biliary atresia, liver fibrosis, pediatric intestinal diseases, tissue injury repair, and translational medicine. Moving forward, PRMRC will continue to leverage its research platforms to integrate basic research with clinical needs, deepen collaboration with pediatric medical centers, and advance mechanistic and translational research in pediatric surgical diseases.