Ground-breaking research in genome editing has won professors Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna the Nobel Prize, and a place in history as the first two women to share the prize.
Their discovery, known as Crispr-Cas9 ‘genetic scissors’, shows a way of making specific and precise changes to the DNA contained in living cells.
Charpentier is with the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin and Doudna, with the University of California in Berkeley.
The BBC reported that the two had been introduced in 2011 by a colleague of Doudna’s at a cafe in Puerto Rico, where the scientists were attending a conference. The next day, during a walk through the streets of the island’s capital, San Juan, Charpentier proposed the idea of joining forces.
Biological chemist Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, commented: ‘The ability to cut DNA where you want has revolutionised the life sciences.’
Not only has the researchers’ technology been transformative for basic research, it could also be used to treat, or even cure, inherited illnesses.
Charpentier said she hoped the prize ‘will provide a positive message specifically for young girls who would like to follow the path of science… and to show them that women in science can also have an impact with the research they are performing’.
The two women will split the prize money of 10 million krona.
[Picture: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay]