French researcher Charpentier and American professor Doudna become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna received this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a method for genome editing.
Charpentier, who is French, and Doudna, an American, become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, joining artists such as Marie Curie (1911) and, more recently, Frances Arnold (2018).
“Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna have discovered one of the sharpest tools in gene technology – the CRISPR / Cas9 genetic scissors,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement Wednesday about the awarding of the 10 million crowns prize. Swedish ($ 1.1 million).
“This technology has had a revolutionary impact in the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases a reality.”
“There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all,” said Claes Gustafsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
“It has not only revolutionized basic science, it has also spawned groundbreaking crops and will lead to groundbreaking new medical treatments.”
Gustafsson said that as a result, any genome can now be edited “to repair genetic damage,” adding that the tool “will provide humanity with great opportunities.”
But he cautioned that “the enormous power of this technology means that we must use it very carefully.
The awards for achievements in science, literature and peace were created and funded at the will of the Swedish inventor and businessman of dynamite Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901, with the economics award as a later addition.
Like so many other things, the coronavirus pandemic has redesigned the Nobel prizes, with many of the traditional events, such as the grand banquet, canceled or moved online even as research on the disease, especially the search for a vaccine, has dominated. scientific attention. .
