Michael Houghton (scientist)

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Michael Houghton
Michael Houghton.jpg
Fields Microbiology
Virology
Institutions University of Alberta
Chiron Corporation
Alma mater University of East Anglia (BSc)
King's College London (PhD)
Thesis RNA Polymerases and Transcription in the Chicken Oviduct (1977)
Known for Hepatitis C
Hepatitis D
Notable awards Karl Landsteiner Award (1992)
Robert Koch Prize (1993)
William Beaumont Prize (1994)
Beatrice Bitiello Award (1994)
International Hepatitis Foundation Award (1998)
Hans Popper Award (1999)
Lasker Award (2000)
Dale Smith Memorial Award (2005)
Hepdart Lifetime Achievement Award (2009)
Gairdner Foundation International Award (2013 - declined)
Website
Michael Houghton, PhD

Michael Houghton is a British scientist, who along with Qui-Lim Choo, George Kuo and Daniel W Bradley, co-discovered Hepatitis C in 1989. He is currently Li Ka Shing Professor of Virology, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology, Director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute, and Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta.[1]

After graduating with a degree in biological sciences from the University of East Anglia in 1972 and a PhD in biochemistry from King's College London in 1977, Houghton joined G. D. Searle & Company before moving to Chiron Corporation in 1982.[2] It was at Chiron that Houghton together with colleagues Qui-Lim Choo and George Kuo, and D.W. Bradley from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, first discovered Hepatitis C.[3] He also discovered the Hepatitis D genome.[4]

Houghton was co-author of a series of seminal studies published in 1989 and 1990 that identified hepatitis C antibodies in blood, particularly among patients at higher risk of contracting the disease, including those who had received blood transfusions.[5][6][7][8] This work led to the development of a blood screening test in 1990; widespread blood screening that began in 1992 with the development of a more sensitive test has since virtually eliminated hepatitis C contamination of donated blood supplies in Canada.[9][10] In other studies published during the same period, Houghton and collaborators linked hepatitis C with liver cancer.[11][12][13]

In 2013, Houghton's team at the University of Alberta showed that a vaccine derived from a single strain of Hepatitis C was effective against all strains of the virus.[14][15] The vaccine is currently in clinical trials.

Houghton holds 73 U.S. patents related to his research; a further seven patents are pending.

He was awarded the Robert Koch Prize in 1993, and the Lasker Award in 2000. In 2013 he become the first person to decline the $100,000 Gairdner Foundation International Award stating "I felt that it would be unfair of me to accept this award without the inclusion of two colleagues, Dr. Qui-Lim Choo and Dr. George Kuo."[16][17]

References

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