Dr Matthew Albert has been awarded an ERC starting Grant in 2008 for his project on the role of type I interferons in hepatitis C disease pathogenesis and treatment. Hepatitis C infection poses several problems to immunologists interested in disease pathogenesis and treatment—the immune system seems to be responsible for much of the disease associated morbidity (e.g. liver cirrhosis), but it is also effective in clearing the virus in a significant subset of people. Over the past seven years Dr Matthew Albert and his team have developed partnerships with clinicians and epidemiologists in France, Egypt and the United States to achieve better insight into immune pathogenesis of both acute and chronic HCV infection. Matthew Albert is committed to defining the complex interplay between virus and host from the perspective of type I IFNs and IFN induced gene products. He has revealed biomarkers predictive of viral clearance that could help identify, pre-treatment, which individuals will respond to their IFNα / ribavirin therapy.

This project’s main objective regarding public dissemination is to bridge the gap between science and the general public, and to help European and Egyptian citizens understand the beneficial impact of science and technology on their day-to-day lives as well as limitations and possible implications of research and technological developments.