The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.”
This year’s Nobel prize is awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world.
The Nobel Assembly said in a statement on Monday that the three scientists “made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus.”
While announcing the prize in Stockholm on Monday, the Nobel Committee stated that the trio’s work has helped explain a major source of blood-borne hepatitis that couldn’t be explained by the hepatitis A and B viruses.
Who are these three scientists?
Harvey James Altero is an 85-year-old American medical researcher. He was awarded the highest award conferred to civilians in United States government public health service, Distinguished Service Medal.
Altero was also awarded the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. Currently, he is associated with the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Michael Houghton is a British scientist, currently, affiliated with the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Charles M Rice, an American virologist whose main area of research is the hepatitis C virus, is reportedly associated with Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
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