Post-doctoral position on New Mechanism and Cure Strategy of Chronic Hepatitis B（2020.04）

The Innovative Research Unit on the Cure of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection, Key Lab of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/MOH/CAMS), Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University has openings for highly creative and motivated postdoctoral fellows with a strong interest in HBV cure studies.

Project outline:

Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) is a major worldwide threat with over 257 million people chronically infected Hepatitis B virus (HBV), and with over 887,000 deaths per year. Current therapeutic treatments suppress HBV replication, but are not curative, due to the persistence of the viral covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) transcriptional template in infected hepatocytes and the failure of chronically infected patients to develop efficient immune response against hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) to clear viral infection.

The goals of the project are to clarify the molecular mechanism on the persistence of HBV cccDNA and HBsAg, especially metabolism and function of HBV cccDNA by developing innovative cell culture and small animal models that recapitulate key features of viral persistence and immune tolerance with cutting-edge techniques in genetic and epigenetic research as well as immunology; and to develop novel approaches to clear HBsAg and cccDNA, to achieve a functional cure for CHB.

The project is funded by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences to Zhenghong YUAN and is available for 5 years. Good facilities and competitive salary will be provided.

Candidate requirements: Candidates should have a PhD in Virology, Immunology, or Biology, and an excellent knowledge of biochemistry and bioinformatics is desirable. Applicants should be highly motivated, proficient in English, and able to work independently as well as collaboratively with others.

Application: Applicants should send their CV, a letter of motivation including proposed research plan, and two reference contacts to Mrs. Jian Liu (yyslj@126.com)