Arash Grakoui, PhD

ARTDTP Research Discipline: 

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a growing public health problem affecting 170 million people worldwide (~3 million in the United States). While twenty percent of patients infected with HCV are able to clear the infection after several months, the majority of patients become chronic carriers who, in addition to being the source for most new infections, can progress to chronic active hepatitis with cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. The paucity of efficacious anti-HCV prophylactic or therapeutic options highlights the need for effective interventions aimed at augmenting or supplementing the natural immune response and, that alone or in concert with drug therapy, can prevent the detrimental consequences of HCV infection. The overall goal of the Grakoui laboratory is to understand the inextricable connectivity between chronic viral infection and the immune system. The laboratory has expertise in molecular virology, immunological approaches and liver biology utilizing in vitro tissue culture, mouse, non-human primate and human models and is committed to making contributions to the understanding of HCV pathogenesis and to the development and application of immunotherapy for controlling HCV replication and thus preventing detrimental HCV-induced hepatic consequences.  

ARTDTP Faculty Collaborators:

Rafi Ahmed, PhD
David S. Weiss, PhD