CHANGING LIVES

Scientists Who Created CRISPR ‘Genetic Scissors’ Share Nobel Chemistry Prize

The committee lauded Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for their revolutionary tech that opens the door to a cure for inherited diseases.

Two scientists—Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and American Jennifer Doudna—have been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry after developing a revolutionary new method of genome editing that could lead to a cure for inherited diseases. In its announcement, the Nobel committee said the pair’s set of “genetic scissors”—known as CRISPR—has allowed scientists to “change the DNA of animals, plants, and microorganisms with extremely high precision.” The committee said the discovery has had a “revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true.” Doudna works at the University of California, Berkeley, while Charpentier is with the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin.