Student Level: Masters, Honours

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection can cause metabolic derangement in patients with chronic liver disease, suggesting clinical associations between HBV infection and host metabolism. A clearer understanding of the metabolic pathways affected by HBV, and their role in HBV pathogenesis, should help to develop novel therapeutic strategies to cure the disease. Clinical and primary (in vitro) results from our group indicate that a variant minor allele of TM6SF2 (rs58542926) is associated with increased HBV viral load, which is the opposite to what we observe in chronic hepatis C. We are interested to understand the mechanisms of chronic liver disease due to both these viruses, particularly the differing effects on liver metabolism.

Supervisor: Associate Professor Mark Douglas – mark.douglas@sydney.edu.au

Co- Supervisor: Dr Anis Khan – anis.khan@sydney.edu.au