South Australian scientists are part of a $17 million national project aimed at developing vaccines and improving treatment options for HIV and hepatitis C sufferers.


Dr Michael Beard from Adelaide University says his group will be focusing on hepatitis C in a $2 million project due to begin next year.


He says more than 260,000 people are infected with hepatitis C in Australia, with about 10,000 new infections annually.


"There is currently no vaccine available for hepatitis C and that is hopefully something we'll hopefully be able to gain some insight into," he said.


He says current treatments help only 50 to 80 per cent of hepatitis sufferers.


"This is the bringing together of nine researchers across Australia. Some of them are clinicians and some of them are basic scientists," he said.


"What it does is brings these people together to study both HIV and hepatitis C virus disease with the hope of developing novel and new vaccines and treatment strategies."