Introduction

Welcome to the Hepatitis C Virus Research UK website. This website aims to supply information relating to HCV for patient, nurse and researcher alike. Here, you will find links to each section which will allow you to find out information on aspects of HCV infection, sample collection, storage and anonymous data collection, all projects/research linked to HCV research UK, relevant HCV news, and more.

Contained on this site is information about how to apply for samples for your research project. Click on the bold heading of the desired section below for quick access to that section.

About Us

HCV Research UK is a consortium of leading figures in the UK from the clinical and scientific community with specific interest in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Its principal objective is to establish a national clinical research database and biobank (a bank of samples) for promoting research studies into HCV infection. Our aim is to create a multidisciplinary infrastructure that links major UK liver centres involved in management of HCV-infected patients to basic science centres of excellence. Within this consortium are also links to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS), i.e. the national bodies responsible for monitoring HCV infection in the UK.

To achieve these aims, HCV Research UK has been funded by the Medical Research Foundation (MRF) to establish a national cohort of up to 10,000 HCV-infected people recruited from medical centres across the country. This proposed cohort size will support research into a diverse set of questions that are critical for understanding key issues associated with HCV infection such as what factors determine spontaneous clearance of the virus, response to drug therapy, and development of liver disease including cirrhosis and liver cancer.