2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Announcement

In 2020, Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Dr. Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing.” This was the first time the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to two women. Professor Sternberg trained with Jennifer Doudna during his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.

• Watch the Nobel announcement video here and a video of her first reaction.
• Read more about the prize and the two laureates here. 
• Extended Learning: Read A Crack in Creation by Jennifer Doudna and Professor Sternberg (Mariner Books, 2017), a popular science book about CRISPR and gene editing.

CRISPR and Gene Editing Scientific Breakthroughs

Nobel Prize work relies on the dedication and hardwork of a team of researchers, postdocs, and students who perform day-to-day laboratory experiments that help make these pioneering advances. In the case of CRISPR and genome editing, some notable contributions from other pioneers in the field include:

• Initial discoveries by Dr. Maria Jasin and colleagues that precise DNA breaks in a cell stimulate homologous recombination; this work essentially jump-started the modern-day notion of “genome editing”.
• Work by Dr. Dana Carroll and Dr. Srinivasan Chandrasegaran, among others, to engineer designer “nucleases” (ZFNs) for generating site-specific DNA breaks in the genome. This set the stage for other nucleases, like CRISPR-Cas9, to make genome editing even easier. 
• The discovery by Dr. Francisco Mojica and colleagues that CRISPR arrays are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes, and may mediate antiviral defense.
• The breakthrough experiments of Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou and Dr. Philippe Horvath, proving that CRISPR-Cas systems mediate antiviral adaptive immunity in bacteria.
• The first publications ever demonstrating genome editing in human cells, from the labs of Dr. Feng Zhang and Dr. George Church.
• Additional commentary about researchers who contributed to the work recognized in the Nobel Prize for CRISPR in an article in The Conversation.

Science is truly a team effort, and the hard work and perseverance of many brilliant researchers made the breakthrough discoveries of CRISPR-Cas9 and genome editing possible.

World Science Festival CRISPR Programs

These World Science Festival Programs feature Professor Sternberg, Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier, along with bioethicists, bioengineers, and biologists.

• Rewriting Life: The Promise and Peril of Editing Your DNA
  Professor Sternberg and others go on a journey deep inside your DNA and discuss the promise and peril of modifying genes.
• The Evolution of Evolution: Are We The Masters of Our Fate?
  It’s a profound question facing modern humans: Are we still subject to natural selection? After hundreds of years of scientific progress, many of the pressures that control evolution—predators and disease—are decreasing. At the same time, technology capable of engineering the genome is in our hands. Where will these changes lead us? Professor Sternberg and other renowned scientists discuss.
• CRISPR In Context: The New World Of Human Genetic Engineering
  Jennifer Doudna and others debate the perils and the promise of this powerful technology.
• 2018 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience Announcement
  The winners of the 2018 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience are Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Virginijus Siksnys for pioneering work on Crispr-cas9.