Which chemist shared the 2020 Nobel Prize for developing CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing?

Jennifer Doudna shared the 2020 Nobel Prize for developing CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing.

Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier showed that a bacterial immune system could be adapted into a programmable tool for cutting DNA. Their 2012 work demonstrated a simplified guide-RNA system that could direct the Cas9 enzyme to a chosen genetic sequence.

The technology made genome editing faster and more accessible than many earlier methods. It has applications in biological research, agriculture, and medicine, although its clinical and ethical use requires careful oversight.

CRISPR is not the name of the cutting enzyme itself. CRISPR refers to repeated DNA sequences in microbial genomes, while Cas9 is an associated protein. Doudna shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Charpentier; the prize citation recognized their method for genome editing rather than every later medical application.