On Thursday, June 10, the IRCM welcomed eminent virologist Michael Houghton as part of the Marie & Willie Chrétien Conference series organized by the IRCM students’ association, the ASSO. For the occasion, Dr. Houghton, who is a recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his groundbreaking work on Hepatitis C (HCV), gave a talk entitled HCV Vaccination: The final frontier in controlling the HCV pandemic.
With this topic of utmost relevance in these times of pandemic, the conference attracted a few hundred participants who connected virtually to hear this prestigious guest. They were able to learn more about the important work of Dr. Houghton and his collaborators, who made it possible to reverse the progression of the Hepatitis C virus with the development of diagnostic methods, antiviral treatments and vaccines.
After the seminar, Dr. Houghton generously participated in a "Meet-and-Greet" session with many IRCM students. “On behalf of the student community at IRCM, we would like to express our greatest gratitude to Dr. Houghton, for accepting our invitation to be our distinguished guest speaker. We really appreciated the detailed seminar as well as his warmness and interest in getting to share this rare learning opportunity for our community,” said Ashley Chin, President of the ASSO.
Holder of the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology from 2010 to 2018, Dr. Michael Houghton is Li Ka Shing Professor of Virology at the University of Alberta, where he is currently Director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute. He is the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice, in recognition of the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. His research in this area led to the protection of blood supplies and to the treatment of hepatitis C to the point where the viral infection can now be cured in virtually all patients, around the world. Together with his colleagues, he contributed to the development of the only candidate vaccine against HCV that is able to neutralize infectivity in vitro for most strains of the virus. Dr. Houghton’s pioneering work has also spurred the development of effective drugs that are now marketed around the world.
Don’t miss our next event!
Building on this momentum, the ASSO invites you to meet its next guest, whose research work has also had a significant impact on health knowledge.
- Speaker: Dr. Peter Doherty, 1996 Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine
- Date: Tuesday, September 29, starting at 7 p.m.
A graduate of the University of Queensland's School of Veterinary Sciences, Peter Doherty was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Medicine together with his collaborator Rolf Zinkernagel, for uncovering how the immune system recognizes cells infected with viruses. This breakthrough laid the foundation for a new understanding of the body’s mechanisms for identifying foreign microorganisms and self molecules.
Stay tuned by subscribing to the newsletter
About the Marie and Willie Chrétien Conference series
Organized by the ASSO, the Marie and Willie Chrétien Conference series presents meetings with world leaders in health research in order to stimulate reflection and excellence in our future researchers. This series is made possible thanks to the support of the Marie and Willie Chrétien Fund, which was created in the 1970s to honour the memory of the parents of Dr. Michel Chrétien, with a mission to help fund academic scientific activities.
