Dr. Michael Houghton Wins 2020 Nobel Prize

�� virologist awarded Nobel Prize

Michael Houghton won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

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Background

In 1989, Michael Houghton discovered the virus now known as hepatitis C with his colleagues Qui-Lim Choo and George Kuo. Because of their discovery, new screening tests were developed for blood donations, and by 1992, the virus was virtually eliminated from blood supplies. By 1996, this screening led to an annual reduction in new hep C infections by more than 80 per cent.

The hepatitis C virus is very virulent. It can lead to cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and liver cancer for people who carry the virus. To prevent the spread of hepatitis C, the world urgently needs a vaccine. In 2012, Houghton and his team here at the �� developed a vaccine that is now in late pre-clinical stage testing. Based on the discovery of the virus, antiviral therapies have also been developed that will cure 95 per cent of carriers. This is the first chronic viral illness that can be cured.

Since the outbreak, Dr. Houghton is leading an effort to produce a COVID-19 vaccine. He was successful in creating a vaccine for SARS-CoV-1 in 2004; however, this vaccine was never needed as the original SARS disappeared.

Dr. Houghton was appointed a full professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the �� Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry on June 1, 2010. His lab is in the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, which was created in 2010 through a gift of $25 million from the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation as well as a commitment of $52.5 million from the Government of Alberta.

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Media Coverage From Around the World

October 5, 2020

Two Americans and a Briton won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for identifying the hepatitis C virus, in work spanning decades that has helped to limit the spread of the fatal disease and develop drugs to cure it.
October 5, 2020

Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles Rice share the award for research on a virus that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.
October 5, 2020

A �� researcher known for his crucial role in identifying the virus that causes hepatitis C has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
October 5, 2020

Three scientists who each played a role in finding a cure for hepatitis C have won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Foundation announced Monday.
October 5, 2020

Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice of the U.S., and Michael Houghton of the ��, were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, hepatitis C.
October 5, 2020

British scientist Michael Houghton, who works at the ��, and Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology on Monday for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.

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