Nobel Prize in Chemistry Goes to Discovery of ‘Genetic Scissors’ Called CRISPR/Cas9

This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for the discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system, which has enabled scientists—for the first time—to make precise changes in the long stretches of DNA that make up the code of life for many organisms, including people. The prize was shared by Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Berlin-based Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, and Jennifer A. Doudna, a professor and biochemist at the University of California at Berkeley. The scientists will split the prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor, or just over $1.1 million dollars.

This CRISPR tool, often described as “genetic scissors,” has been used by plant researchers to develop crops that withstand pests and drought, and could transform agriculture. In medicine, the method is involved in clinical trials of new cancer therapies, and researchers are trying to use it to cure certain inherited diseases. “It is being used all over science,” says Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Nearly a decade ago Charpentier discovered a previously unknown molecule, tracrRNA, in bacteria. She learned that this molecule was part of an immune system in the microbes that helps them fight off viruses by cleaving viral DNA. The mechanism is named CRISPR. Doudna, at about the same time, was mapping a series of proteins associated with CRISPR (the cas proteins) that unwind and slice up DNA at specific spots. The two scientists began collaborating in 2011, after meeting at a conference in Puerto Rico where they went to a café and talked about the overlap in their work. They succeeded in making these genetic scissors in a laboratory, and in reprogramming them to cut DNA at whatever spot the scientists selected.

This is the first time the chemistry Nobel has gone to two women. Charpentier, reached by phone this morning, said, “I’m very happy this prize goes to two women. I hope it provides a positive message for young girls, young women, who wish to follow the path of science.”

The president of the American Chemical Society, Luis Echegoyen, notes that “for a long time women have been nominated, but few have obtained the prize.” The Nobel Prizes began in 1901, and there were only five women winners in chemistry before Charpentier and Doudna. This reflected a bias against women rather than the quality of their science, Echegoyen says. Times may be changing, however: Frances Arnold won the chemistry award in 2018 for her work on directed evolution.

CRISPR “is very selective, very exquisite chemistry,” Echegoyen says. “Knowing the chemistry behind things allows you to control the biology. And it lets you understand the different functions of genes. Charpentier and Doudna were absolutely at the core of this discovery.”

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