Another day, another Nobel Prize for a UC Berkeley faculty member.
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday along with her research partner Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin.
“I’m over the moon. I’m in shock and I couldn’t be happier to be representing UC Berkeley,” said Professor Doudna.
The pair were awarded the prize for their work in developing CRISPR gene editing technology. The tool has been called “molecular scissors” because it allows scientists to make precise edits in the genes of people, animals, plants and microorganisms and remove errors that cause disease.
“With an eye towards affordability, accessibility and sustainability that will make the technology go from a laboratory tool to a standard of care someday in genetic disease,” Doudna explained.
There are over 5,000 genetic diseases, many of which currently do not have treatments or cures available. Early research has suggested that CRISPR could be used to treat and even cure sickle cell disease, or help the immune system ward off cancers.
Another major avenue for continuing CRISPR research is environmentalism.
“A way to create the kinds of changes in agricultural products that will be necessary to meet the changes of climate change,” said Doudna, such as drought-tolerant rice or wheat that is resistant to pathogens.
“Her discovery eight years ago made here at Cal on how these molecular scissors could work has really started to change the world and will continue that trajectory unabated,” said her colleague and fellow UC Berkeley professor Fyodor Urnov. “The 21st century will be the century of CRISPR, because it is the equivalent of a warp drive in terms of giving us scientists the ability to travel further and faster into realms of the biological universe that we never dreamt possible.”
This is the first time in history that the Nobel Prize for Chemistry has gone to two women. Doudna is also the first woman at UC Berkeley to claim the prize.
Their research was first published in 2012, a relatively recent discovery for the Nobel Prize, which is sometimes awarded decades after discoveries are made.
Urnov says the impact of CRISPR was immediately clear. “I said to Jennifer this morning, thanks very much for giving me and 100,000 other people something to do for the rest of our lives.”
The award comes with a $1 million prize and as an added bonus for UC Berkeley faculty, a free parking spot for life on campus.