Houghton, Michael, 1949–, Canadian biochemist, Ph.D. King's College, London, 1977. He joined G.D. Searle & Co. in 1977, then became (1982) a researcher at the Chiron Corp. In 2007 Houghton was appointed chief scientific officer at Epiphany Biosciences, and in 2009 he joined the faculty at the Univ. of Alberta in Canada. At Chiron, Houghton led a team the identified the hepatitis C virus, which led to a diagnostic test for the virus that enabled the screening of patients and potential blood donors for the disease. He was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Harvey Alter and Charles Rice for their work that led to the discovery of hepatitis C virus, and the subsequent treatment and control of the disease.
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