Two female scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna have been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday.
The scientists have been jointly awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize “for the development of a method for genome editing.” An amount of 10 million Swedish kronor will be shared equally between the laureates.
Jennifer Doudna is from the University of California, Berkeley, USA whereas Charpentier is from Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany.
What Are Genetic Scissors?
Known as “genetic scissors” or as a tool for rewriting the code of life, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of the gene technology’s sharpest tools, the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, a note on this year’s winners said.
These scissors can help the researchers in changing the DNA of animals, plants, and microorganisms with extremely high precision. This has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, especially on the new cancer therapies. This technology may help in curing inherited diseases as well.
Earlier, modifying genes in cells used to be time-consuming, challenging, and sometimes impossible work. But with the help of CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, it is now possible to change the code of life over a few weeks.
“There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all. It has not only revolutionised basic science but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to ground-breaking new medical treatments,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
At IFORHER, we are in awe of Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna for their great achievement. We wish them luck for their future endeavors and hope their inspiring win will motivate many more young minds.
