12 Oct 2020
Setting it Straight: A virology Nobel
Setting it Straight - Issue #28
Written by Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty
Over this past week we learned the names of the 2020 Nobel Laureates in the areas specified by Alfred Nobel’s will. This year, the year of COVID-19, it’s fitting that the 111th Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three virologists for their discovery of hepatitis C virus (HCV) – Canada’s Michael Houghton and the USA’s Harvey Alter and Charles Rice. The Nobel Foundation announcement tells us what this trio did and why it’s important. Apart from joining the pantheon of Nobel virologists, they also link to 1930’s Nobelist, Karl Landsteiner (discoverer of the ABO blood groups), in making a major contribution to transfusion by cleaning up the blood supply. And, at least in the viral hepatitis community, Harvey Alter is further known for his poetry!