The Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis (LAHEP) at Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz) has been active since 1986 in basic and applied research and technological development aimed at epidemiological surveillance of diseases that affect the liver, with emphasis on hepatitis of viral origin. 

LAHEP maintains a reference outpatient clinic to treat cases of viral hepatitis, which allows integration between research and assistance. The Laboratory also houses the National Reference Service for the Diagnosis of Viral Hepatitis, in order to subsidize actions by the Ministry of Health. 

His lines of research are dedicated to the identification of acute infections by the hepatitis virus (EA), investigation of outbreaks, studies related to the humoral and cellular immune response in the acute phase of the infection and implications of the immune response in the viral evolution. 

The group is also dedicated to epidemiological and molecular studies, evolutionary history and dynamics of dissemination of hepatitis viruses in Brazil, with the purpose of epidemiological and genomic surveillance actions; studies of host factors associated with the clinical-laboratory course, vaccine response and unfavorable gestational outcomes; and viral metagenomic studies in cases of hepatitis of unknown etiology. 

LAHEP also researches biotechnology applied to the diagnosis and treatment of viral infections using biomolecules such as IgY, RNAi and Crispr-Cas. 

In the area of ​​technological development, the Laboratory operates in the standardization and validation of methodologies applied to laboratory tests for the diagnosis of viral hepatitis. International cooperation activities involve African countries in the study of the prevalence and risk factors associated with hepatitis B and C in health professionals from local hospitals and mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B. 

Head of the Viral Hepatitis Laboratory 
Livia Melo Villar (Curriculum lattes) 

Deputy Head of the Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis 
Francisco Campello do Amaral Mello (Curriculum lattes)