• Question: Is there a reason you work on Hepatitis C specifically? Did/Do you know anyone who has/had the virus?

    Asked by veryvexatious to Nicola on 11 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Nicola Fletcher

      Nicola Fletcher answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      The thing is, I am not specifically interested in Hepatitis C, I love working on viruses that infect the brain. I was at a conference a few years ago, which is where lots of scientists meet up and they all talk about their research. The conference I was at was about HIV and the brain, but some of the scientists were talking about Hepatitis C and how some people who are infected might have problems with their brains. So I got the idea to test whether Hepatitis C infects the brain. Not long after that I was offered a job in Birmingham to work on Hepatitis C so I got the chance to see if my idea was true…and it was! I do know someone who had Hepatitis C, but thankfully he was cured so that’s really good.

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