Host and viral factors that govern susceptibility to HCV and RSV

About this project

In some patients, an HCV infection will clear naturally, but in most cases, it becomes chronic. In addition, the course of chronic infection differs between patients. Most children are infected with RSV in the first 18 months of life. A fraction of these children suffer a severe course of the infection. For both conditions, the principles of underlying susceptibility and severity of infection are incompletely elucidated. However, this information is critical to ensure optimal prevention and medical care. For this reason, we are collaborating with our clinical partners at MHH to explore the principles of host susceptibility to these viral infections. Next generation sequencing technologies are utilized to examine host and pathogen characteristics to determine what role host genetics play in susceptibility to infection. Through collaboration with clinical researchers, we have access to unique patient cohorts that allow us to study viral pathogenesis in humans. This project is funded by the RESIST Cluster of Excellence and the INDIRA network.