Meital received her Ph.D. from Tel-Aviv University in Israel where she has focused on the isolation and characterization of specific antibody inhibitors for the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3 serine protease. Her interest in HCV has led her to continue exploring this virus during her post-doc training, under the supervision of prof. Stanley Lemon. Her current study is focused on characterizing and creating a detailed map of the major binding sites of neutralizing antibodies on the HCV envelope. Using a recently developed infectious system for HCV, she successfully isolated virus mutants that escape neutralization-mediated by monoclonal antibodies. This study will be the first to characterize in molecular detail the antibody response to HCV and will have important implications for the development of strategies for both active and passive immunotherapy against HCV. Her long term career goal is to become an independent academic research scientist and continue exploring the mechanism by which viruses cause liver disease in humans, and different strategies for combating these agents. Research project: Neutralization epitopes of Hepatitis C virus.