Nobel Prize 2020 in Chemistry jointly awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A. Doudna

New Delhi: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Wednesday awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for “development of a method for genome editing”.

Working on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna came up with a method known as CRISPR-cas9 that can be used to change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. It is the first time two women have won the chemistry Nobel together.

Their work allows for laser-sharp snips in the long strings of DNA that make up the “code of life,” allowing scientists to precisely edit specific genes to remove errors that lead to disease.

BREAKING NEWS:
The 2020 #NobelPrize in Chemistry has been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.” pic.twitter.com/CrsnEuSwGD

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2020

Doudna was born in 1964 in Washington, D.C and currently works as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and an investigator at HHMI news.

Charpentier, who is French, and Doudna, an American, become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel for chemistry, joining the like of Marie Curie (1911) and Frances Arnold (2018).

The prestigious award comes with 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.

Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision.

Doudna was born in 1964 in Washington, D.C and currently works as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and an investigator at HHMI news.

With three more prizes in categories of literature, peace and economics remaining, the award season will wrap up on October 12.