Dear Colleagues,

Since its discovery, more than half a century ago, hepatitis B virus (HBV) has attracted the attention of clinicians and molecular virologists not only due to its significant impact on human health worldwide, but also due to the challenging task of investigating this small and yet complicated virus. For many years, the lack of appropriate molecular tools and animal models to study the virus was a major obstacle that slowed down the field. However, in recent years, seminal discoveries regarding major steps in the virus life cycle, such as its entry step and cccDNA regulation, not only enabled the development of more sophisticated tools for studying HBV, but also enhanced the efforts to find effective therapies that are able to eliminate the virus, rather than only suppress its replication.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather the most updated information regarding the molecular biology of HBV and to connect the dots tying this information to present and future targets for curative anti-HBV therapies. We would like to invite researchers to submit their research or review articles on HBV concerning different aspects of its life cycle, with emphasis on exploiting basic concepts in HBV molecular virology for better therapeutic tools.

Dr. Amir Shlomai
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• hepatitis B virus
• molecular virology
• viral hepatitis
• cccDNA
• functional cure
• viral replication
• animal models
• liver