COLLABORATIONS

We are open to establishing thematically integrated collaborative research projects with external investigators. Although our primary focus is on research related to HCV-associated liver disease, we will consider topics related to broad aspects of liver disease associated with viral infection or drug abuse. External investigators interested in collaborating with the Center are asked to submit a brief proposal outlining the research topic and the way in which the Center's resources will help achieve the goals of the project. Because of the cutting-edge nature of our technologies, we require true scientific collaborations and are not able to function as a service center. In addition, this requirement allows the Center to assist in early stages of experimental design and to address issues of sample requirements for genomics and proteomics experiments.

Click here (PDF) for information on proposal guidelines and the mechanism by which collaborations are considered.

Examples of Center collaborations include activities related to:

  • Liver biopsy samples from patients with HCV- or alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (University of Barcelona, Spain)
  • Liver biopsy samples from patients with porphyria cutanea tarda (University of Utah)
  • Liver biopsy samples from patients prior to and after the start of pegylated interferon-alpha-2a and ribavirin combination therapy (Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
  • Validation of a fibrotic marker panel in patients with chronic HCV infection and varying stages of liver fibrosis (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)
  • Comparison of fibrotic marker expression in patients with recurrent HCV after liver transplant
  • Chimeric SCID-beige/Alb-uPA mouse model of HCV infection (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
  • Integration of gene expression and protein abundance data (Rosetta Biosoftware and Thermo Electron Biomarker Research Initiatives in Mass Spectrometry Center)
  • Pig-tailed macaque and African green monkey models of AIDS (University of California, San Francisco)
  • HCV-2a in-vitro infection system (Rockefeller University)
  • Impact of methadone maintenance on the sustained response rate of HCV-infected intravenous drug users undergoing treatment with pegylated interferon (Evergreen Treatment Services and Roche Pharmaceuticals)
  • Integration of HCV-related gene expression data databases (Scripps Research Institute and University of Toronto, Canada)