Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A Doudna for genome editing tool

Stockholm, 7-Oct-2020

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna �for the development of a method for genome editing". Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the United States on Wednesday won the prestigious award for developing the gene-editing technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping "scissors". "Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. This technology 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," the Nobel jury said. "The ability to cut the DNA where you want has revolutionised the life sciences" Pernilla Wittung Stafshede, member of the academy of sciences, told reporters. Charpentier and Doudna become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel for chemistry, joining the likes of Marie Curie, who won in 1911, and more recently, Frances Arnold, in 2018. The Nobel Prize for chemistry has honoured work that has led to practical applications in wide use today such as last year's win for the brains behind the lithium-ion battery. The Nobel prize includes a gold medal and prize money of 10 million krona (more than $1.1 million), courtesy of a bequest left more than a century ago by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. On Tuesday, Nobel Prize for Physics went to Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the United States for their breakthroughs in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes. On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize for physiology and medicine to Americans Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton for discovering the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus. The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of literature, peace and economics.