2020 Nobel Prize Collection
A collection to highlight the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 that was awarded jointly to Charles M. Rice of The Rockefeller University, Michael Houghton of the University of Alberta, and Harvey J. Alter of the NIH for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus. Their contributions made possible blood tests and new medicines against blood-borne hepatitis, which is a major cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis. WHO estimated that in 2016, approximately 399,000 people died from hepatitis C, mostly from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer). While the statistics are sobering, many more lives would have been lost if it were not for seminal work by these scientists. We celebrate their winning the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with a collection of Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM) and Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) studies published by Rice and Houghton on the topics of Hepatitis C virus, yellow fever, and SARS-CoV-2.
Illustration: Niklas Elmehed. © Nobel Media AB 2020
