Globally, over 40 million people are infected with the Hepatitis Delta virus (HDV). In the US, there is an alarming trend in the rise of infections. Hepatitis D remains a serious challenge for three reasons. First, there is no FDA approved therapy, and the current treatment with interferon-alpha has a very low success rate, twenty five percent. It is the most aggressive form of viral hepatitis and results in accelerated liver-related deaths and hepatocellular carcinoma (a common form of liver cancer). Lastly, there are limited cell-culture and animal models to study the virus in order to test new antivirals.HDV research is still in the beginning stages and the viral dynamics are unique. It is a “satellite” virus and is only infectious in the presence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Infection can occur in two ways: coinfection with both HDV and HBV at the same time or the HDV superinfection of an already HBV-infected individual. It is not known why HDV superinfection (compared to co-infection) leads to a higher risk of chronic HDV infection and hepatitis. There is no vaccine for HDV, but it can be theoretically controlled as a result of the success of global HBV vaccinations.Dahari Lab works across disciplines with computational modelers, virologists, clinicians, mouse-model experts and pharmaceutical companies on advancements in treatment. Our focus is on the discovery of HDV treatment response dynamics, the optimization of HDV therapy, and the evaluation of anti-HDV mode of actions of new drugs. Research can be divided across the study of human patients, mouse models and cell cultures. Data collected from all three types of research contribute to the foundational knowledge that is essential in understanding and treating HDV. Clinical (patient) data increases our understanding of the host/virus interplay, especially with new treatments. Mouse models offer the opportunity to study acute HDV because the moment of infection can be controlled (clinical data is mostly from chronic infections.) At the cellular level, these models allow for research within the liver cells directly.Access to data from all three sources, clinical (human), mouse model, and molecular (cellular), offer richer data to develop more sophisticated multicompartmental models. The ability to isolate the virus dynamics and describe in detail the interplay at the host (human), organ (liver) and cellular level is the key to unlocking effective treatments and eventual cure.