Emmanuelle Charpentier at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Germany and Jennifer Doudna at the University of California, Berkeley, have won this year鈥檚 Nobel prize in chemistry for pioneering the genome editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. The pair were recognised for their work on the widely used technique, which has applications for new medicines, crops and more.
鈥淭his is a technology method that can provide humankind with great opportunities,鈥� said Claes Gustafsson of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, speaking as the prize was announced today at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
鈥淚 realised I was very emotional,鈥� said Charpentier, on hearing she had won the prize. Only five women have received the award before. Asked about her view on being part of the first all-female team to win, she said she considered herself a scientist foremost. However, she hoped it would send a 鈥減ositive message鈥� to young women pursuing a career in science.
Advertisement
Charpentier paved the way for CRISPR, which enables scientists to identify a specific piece of DNA in a cell and to edit that DNA, an approach that could be used to prevent disease in humans or make food healthier. As Gustafsson noted, it can be used to fix genetic damage, such as the gene mutation that causes sickle-cell anaemia.
The development of CRISPR came when Charpentier was studying the bacterial species听Streptococcus pyogenes, which causes numerous illnesses in humans. She identified a molecule known as tracrRNA, a defence mechanism which cleaves the DNA of invading viruses. In 2011, her work , catapulting her to celebrity.
That year she met Doudna, an expert in RNA, the molecule similar to DNA that carries information in our cells. Together the scientists recreated the bacterium鈥檚 DNA cleaving ability in a lab, which the Nobel committee described as 鈥済enetic scissors in a test tube鈥�. Gene editing was possible before their discoveries, but has become much cheaper, faster and more accessible as a result of their work.
The tool has sometimes been used in controversial ways, most notably by Chinese researcher He Jiankui, who created 鈥淐RISPR babies鈥� in 2018 by editing several embryos. Without referring directly to He鈥檚 work, Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede at the Nobel committee said: 鈥淓thics, laws and regulations are extremely important here.鈥�
Charpentier said that, indirectly, CRISPR could help covid-19 vaccine efforts, as research was under way using the tool to find components and molecules that are important for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to replicate. 鈥淭hese findings could help to develop the vaccine,鈥� she said.
听
