Dwain Thiele, M.D.
William Lee, MD
Professor of Medicine
Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases

The student will be participating in studies that use an animal model of viral hepatitis to explore mechanisms of hepatotoxicity. In these studies, wild type mice, or mice with selected targeted mutations are infused with recombinant, replication deficient adenoviruses in doses that produce a mild, non-lethal hepatitis. Other groups of control (uninfected) or adenovirus infected mice will be infused with graded doses of acetaminophen (APAP) to assess interactions between direct hepatotoxins and infectious/immune mediated mechanisms of hepatotoxicity. The specific hypothesis to be addressed is whether cytoprotective mechanisms expressed in response to viral infection also protect the liver from APAP induced liver injury.