Dr. Charles Rice - The Discovery of Hepatitis C Virus

Dr. Rice is a virologist who is known for the development of effective treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV). His work to generate a version of HCV that enabled the development of antiviral drugs capable of reducing HCV to undetectable levels, essentially curing chronic infection. For this breakthrough, Rice was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine.Rice attended UC Davis for college and earned his graduate degree at Cal Tech, where he focused his research on RNA viruses. He deduced the genome of the virus that causes yellow fever and helped develop a vaccine. He also helped establish the flavivirus family which includes West Nile fever and Dengue fever. Rice then joined the faculty at the Washington University, where he shifted his focus to the development of a vaccine for hepatitis C. He generated a culturable version of the virus, allowing him to provide a description of the complete HCV genome and demonstrate the infectious nature of the virus. In 2001 Rice moved to Rockefeller University, where he discovered multiple proteins required for HCV entry into liver cells. In addition, he designed assays to test for drugs capable of blocking HCV replication, which led to new therapeutic agents for hepatitis C. The first of these drugs was approved in 2013 by the FDA.Rice was a recipient of the 2015 Robert Koch Prize and the 2016 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award. He was an elected member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2004 and the National Academy of Sciences in 2005.

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