Nobel Biomedical 2020 honors the discovery of hepatitis C virus

The Nobel Committee of the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) on October 5 announced the 2020 biomedical Nobel Prize for two American scientists and one British person, with research on hepatitis C virus.

Three scientists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice won the 2020 Nobel Prize in biomedical science for discovering hepatitis C virus - Photo: The Nobel Prize

These three people include American researcher, virologist and physician Harvey J. Alter, British scientist Michael Houghton, and American virologist Charles M. Rice.

The Nobel Committee said its findings have revealed the causes of cases of chronic hepatitis, helping to carry out necessary blood tests and new drugs to save the lives of millions.

The commission said all three scientists were honored "for their decisive contributions in the fight against blood-borne hepatitis C - a global health problem that causes cirrhosis and cancer." liver".

"For the first time in history, the hepatitis C virus can be cured" - the Nobel Committee said when announcing the decision in the afternoon of 5-10 (Vietnam time).

"Hepatitis C is considered to be the cause of more deaths than the current corona pandemic. This is a big problem and the findings are a big step forward" - Professor Gilbert Thompson of Royal University London (UK) said.

Accordingly, research scientist Alter has demonstrated that an unidentified virus is a common cause of chronic hepatitis. Mr. Houghton helped isolate the genome of the new virus and named it the hepatitis C virus. Rice scientist provided final evidence that hepatitis C virus alone can cause hepatitis.

The Biomedical Nobel Prize is awarded for outstanding and important discoveries in the fields of life sciences and medicine. The Nobel Prize in Biomedical Medicine was first awarded in 1901. Up to now, the Nobel Committee has awarded a total of 111 awards to 222 scientists around the world.

All Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden every December, except for the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. The prize value this year is 10 million Swedish krona (more than 1,118,000 USD), an increase of 1 million krona from last year.

This award event is usually held on December 10 every year to commemorate the death of the founder of the Nobel Prize, the scientist Alfred Nobel.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nobel Foundation - the agency governing the Nobel prizes - on July 21 announced the cancellation of this year's traditional award party. This year's Nobel Prize winners will receive the award at their homes or at embassies.

This week, the Nobel Prize will be announced from the biomedical prize 5-10 today. The physics, chemistry, literature, and peace prizes will be announced on the following days in turn, while the economic prizes will name the winners on October 12.

Heroine

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nobel-y-sinh-2020-vinh-danh-kham-pha-ve-virus-viem-gan-c-20201005153331239.htm