Jennifer A. Doudna
Facts
Photo: Christopher Michel
Jennifer A. Doudna
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020
Born: 19 February 1964, Washington, D.C., USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Prize motivation: “for the development of a method for genome editing”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
The life processes of organisms are controlled by genes made up of sections of DNA. In 2012, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier developed a method for high-precision genome editing. They used the immune system of a bacterium, which disables viruses by cutting their DNA up with a type of genetic scissors. By extracting and simplifying the genetic scissors' molecular components, they made it generally applicable. The CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors can lead to new scientific discoveries, better crops and new weapons in the fight against cancer and genetic diseases.
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