Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna are the first two women to win and share the Nobel Prize 2020 in Chemistry.
The prize honours their work on the technology of genome editing. Their discovery, known as Crispr-Cas9 “genetic scissors”, is a way of making specific and precise changes to the DNA contained in living cells.
The two scientists would split the prize money worthmillion krona (£861,200; $1,110,400.)
Professor Charpentier, from the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin, said it was an emotional moment when she learned about the award. She said, “When it happens, you’re very surprised, and you think it’s not real. But obviously it’s real.”
On being one of the first two women to share the prize, Prof Charpentier said, “I wish that this 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.” She further added, “This is not just for women, but we see a clear lack of interest in following a scientific path, which is very worrying.”
The two had been introduced by a colleague of Doudna’s at a cafe in Puerto Rico, where the scientists were attending a conference.
Last year, Chinese scientist He Jiankui was jailed for three years after creating the world’s first gene-edited human babies. He was convicted of violating a government ban by carrying out his own experiments on human embryos, to try to give them protection against HIV.
Emmanuelle Charpentier was born in 1968 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France. She obtained her PhD while at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and subsequently worked at scientific institutes in the US, Austria, Sweden and Germany – in addition to her native France.
Jennifer Doudna was born in 1964 in Washington DC. She was awarded her PhD by Harvard Medical School.
The Nobel Prize for other fields are yet to be announced.
Stay tuned for further updates.
