Illustration of the British virologist Michael Houghton (born 1949). Houghton is best known for his work on the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a virus that is spread through blood contact, blood transfusions and sharing of infected needles. He and his colleagues were the first to isolate the virus's genome in 1989. From this they were able to develop an assay to screen for HCV in blood samples that lead to highly effective blood screening programs to prevent transfusion-transmitted hepatitis. Houghton was awarded a share of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Harvey Alter and Charles M. Rice for his work.