SUMMARY

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.

Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C virus. Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained. The discovery of Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Harvey J. Alter

Prize share: 1/3

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Michael Houghton

Prize share: 1/3

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Charles M. Rice

Prize share: 1/3

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 was awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.”

<https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2020/summary/>

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Emmanuelle Charpentier

award share: 1/2

Jennifer A. Doudna

© Nobel Media. Ill. Niklas Elmehed.

Jennifer A. Doudna

award share: 1/2

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.”

To cite this section
MLA style: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Sun. 18 Oct 2020. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/summary/>

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