Podcast: Meet our Researchers Paul Klenerman Persistent Virus Prof. Paul Klenerman studies the evolutionary relationships between persistent viruses and their human hosts. He aims to understand the role of our immune responses in determining the outcome of Hepatitis C virus infection. Hepatitis C virus infects around 200 million people worldwide and is a major cause of liver disease. Viruses, how to be the perfect host Hepatitis C When infected by hepatitis C virus, we either clear the virus or suffer from long term infection that leads to liver damage. The critical stage happens during the first few weeks of infections. Improving the immune response against the virus could be used to protect as well as cure people from hepatitis C. Translational Medicine From Bench to Bedside Research in Medicine needs to ultimately translate into better treatment of patients. Researchers at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, collaborate to develop better care and improved preventive measures. Findings in the laboratory are translated into changes in clinical practice, from Bench to Bedside. Paul Klenerman: Viruses, how to be the perfect host Q: Can you tell us about our relationship with persistent viruses? PK: We encounter viruses throughout our life. Some of them we deal with really well and we control those beautifully, but others are trickier and they can set up long term infection. Some of the ones that set up long term infection actually do us relatively little harm, but other ones cause problems over time. This is partly