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The Project    Hepatitis C Virus    Mice and More

Human Vaccine Consortium Project

This project is part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. Within the 14 defined challenges our goal is to develop a suitable mouse model for testing vaccines against the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Today, we are severely limited in our capacity to study the pathophysiology of infections diseases in man. Laboratory animals have been used to model human diseases and have provided critical information that has advanced our understanding of several human pathophysiologies.
Nevertheless, for many human diseases, no adequate animal model has been identified (since the pathology only develops in human tissues). Alternatively, when a model does exist, its widespread use may be limited because of cost issues, poor accessibility or ethical considerations (e.g. primate models). More specifically, the lack of adequate animal experimental infection models has hampered the development of therapeutic and/or prophylactic interventions against HCV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).