PEOPLE

Prof. Choo obtained his BSc (Hon) degree in Biochemistry from Queen Elizabeth College London and his PhD in Biochemistry from King's College London. With a post-doctoral fellowship from the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America, he spent two years at the University of California, San Francisco before joining Chiron in 1982. In the fields of hepatitis C and D, he has published many articles and has held numerous patents. In 1989, through the molecular cloning he and his Chiron colleagues, Michael Houghton, PhD and George Kuo, PhD, along with Daniel Bradley, PhD of the CDC identified the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) as the causative agent responsible for the post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis. Subsequent epitope-mapping of the recombinant HCV proteins with the unveiling of major immune-dominant epitopes led to a rapid development of the HCV blood-screening test for use in the blood banks to safeguard the blood supply. This body of HCV discovery works has been honored recently with a Nobel Prize of Medicine in 2020 (Nature 586, 2020, 485; https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02932-y). During the Nobel Week 2020, both Choo and Kuo were honored with a recognition from the Li Ka Shing Foundation for their team efforts leading to the discovery of HCV (https://lksf.org/science-reshapes-human-destiny/). For over ten years until recently, he led a research team in a small biotech company in Hong Kong, working on recombinant protein drugs for clinical uses. More specifically, recombinant proteins were subjected to proprietary post-translational modifications using innovative formulations to improve drug safety and efficacy. His main research goal there was to achieve the investigational new drug (IND) status of these recombinant proteins for their subsequent clinical trials in human with a view of moving them from research bench to patient bedside.