Jennifer Doudna shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing.
Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier were honored for developing a method that allows researchers to cut DNA at targeted locations. Their 2012 work showed that a system derived from bacterial immune defenses could be redesigned as a programmable molecular tool. CRISPR-Cas9 has since become central to genetics, biotechnology, and medical research.
The prize was shared by two women, an unusual milestone in Nobel history. Doudna is a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, while Charpentier founded the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin. The technique does not automatically repair DNA perfectly; after cutting, a cell’s repair processes determine the final change.
CRISPR is sometimes described as genetic “scissors,” but the full system includes guide RNA, the Cas9 enzyme, and cellular DNA-repair pathways.