 |
GOALS
The Virus Research Laboratory will be established following
the appointment of Professor Eric Gowans as Executive Director.
The laboratory is funded by grants from the National Health
and Medical Research Council, a linkage grant from the Australian
Research Council and a grant from the Australian Centre for
HIV and Hepatitis Virology.
Work in the laboratory will focus on methods to increase the
efficacy of the proteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) to generate
a protective immune response, using novel vaccine delivery
vectors and strategies to generate helper T cells responses.
A related project in collaboration with the Burnet Institute
in Melbourne will investigate the potential of these strategies
to influence the course of the infection in patients with
persistent HCV infection that is resistant to current modes
of therapy. These projects are underpinned by our expertise
in molecular biology and immunology, that will also contribute
to a third project to establish an assay to examine the potential
of compounds within a chemical library provided by our collaborator,
Avexa Ltd, Melbourne, to inhibit the HCV replication in a
cell culture system.
|
