File:Prof_Michael_Houghton.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Michael Houghton
Sign in to saveAlso known as Michael A. Houghton, Michael A Houghton, M. A. Houghton, M A Houghton, M. Houghton, M Houghton, Houghton, Sir Michael Houghton
virologist
Key facts
- Born
- 1949 (age 76 – 77)
- Alma mater
- University of East Anglia ( BSc ), King's College London ( PhD )
- Known for
- Discovery of hepatitis C and hepatitis D
- Awards
- Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award (1992), Robert Koch Prize (1993), William Beaumont Prize (1994), Lasker Award (2000), Gairdner Foundation International Award (2013, declined), Nobel Prize for Medicine (2020)
- Fields
- Microbiology , Virology
- Institutions
- University of Alberta , Chiron Corporation
- Thesis
- RNA Polymerases and Transcription in the Chicken Oviduct (1977)
- Doctoral advisors
- Norman Carey and James Chesterton
- Website
- apps .ualberta .ca /directory /person /mhoughto
via Wikipedia infobox
Nobel Prize
- The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine2020
“for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus”
Shared · 1/3 portion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Michael
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Place of birth
- London
- Occupation
- biochemist
- Educated at
- King's College London
- Employer
- University of Alberta
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- microbiology
- Image
- Prof Michael Houghton.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- date of birth
- 1949-00-00
- Commons category
- Michael Houghton
- interested in
- biochemistry
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Sir Michael Houghton (born 1949) is a British scientist and Nobel Prize laureate. Along with Qui-Lim Choo, George Kuo and Daniel W. Bradley, he co-discovered hepatitis C in 1989. He also co-discovered the hepatitis D genome in 1986. The discovery of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) led to the rapid development of diagnostic reagents to detect HCV in blood supplies, which has reduced the risk of acquiring HCV through blood transfusion from one in three to about one in two million. It is estimated that antibody testing has prevented at least 40,000 new infections per year in the US alone and many more worldwide.
Houghton is currently Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology and Li Ka Shing Professor of Virology at the University of Alberta, where he is also director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute. He was the co-recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Michael Houghton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.