Greg’s article “Empirical fitness models for hepatitis C virus immunogen design” has been published in Physical Biology (http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975/12/6/066006). This work describes the translation of hepatitis C virus sequence databases into empirical “fitness landscapes” describing the replicative fitness of the virus as a function of its amino acid sequence, and the use of these landscapes for the rational design of potent antiviral vaccine immunogens. By identifying how to hit the virus where it hurts, these empirical landscapes have allowed us to narrow the search space for optimal immunogen candidates by over five orders of magnitude, guiding and accelerating experimental vaccine development efforts. Congratulations to Greg on his new publication!
Read the UofI press release here.