FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               

For more information, contact:

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Sheila Champlin – (901) 448-4957, schampli@uthsc.edu

 

Associate Professor Kui Li of

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

 Receives $299,917 Grant for Hepatitis C Research

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Memphis, Tenn. (June 28, 2012) – Kui Li, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), received a grant totaling $299,917 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The year-long grant will support the study titled, “Role of TLR3 Signaling in Control of HCV.” The funding will contribute to Dr. Li’s hepatitis C research efforts.  Dr. Li’s previous research on TLR3 signaling, supported by NIAID Award Number AI069285, appeared in a recent Hepatology publication (2012 Mar;55(3):666-75).  The publication’s content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.

The aim of Dr. Li and his research team is to obtain a better understanding of virus-host interactions that regulate pathogenesis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. HCV is a small enveloped RNA virus that affects 130 million people worldwide.  The virus damages the liver slowly but progressively, causing chronic hepatitis in a majority of the individuals it infects, and puts patients at risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer.  The natural immune response is the frontline of host defense against invading pathogens, but how it operates in liver cells to defeat HCV remains elusive.

“This grant will allow us to continue our studies on the early interplay between HCV and the innate immune system, which will provide new knowledge that helps develop new ways of treating HCV infection,” said Dr. Li.

The National Institutes of Health, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.  For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service.  In 2011, UT Health Science Center celebrated its centennial: 100 years advancing the future of health care.  Offering a broad range of postgraduate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.  The UTHSC campus in Knoxville includes a College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  In addition, the UTHSC Chattanooga campus includes a College of Medicine and an Allied Health Sciences unit.  Since its founding in 1911, UTHSC has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals on campuses and in health care facilities across the state.  For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.

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