Two female CRISPR scientists win Nobel Prize in historic first
French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier and US biochemist Jennifer Doudna have achieved scientific history by jointly winning the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their seminal work on gene-editing technology, CRISPR.
The award is the only science Nobel to be ever won by two women, bringing the total number of women who have been awarded the chemistry prize to seven, compared to a tally of 185 men.
In 2011, Charpentier discovered an adaptive immune response in bacteria to fight off viral attacks, leading to a groundbreaking publication in the science journal “ Nature”.
One year later, Charpentier co-authored a report with Doudna, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley (UC), outlining details of the CRISPR/Cas9 system and guidelines on how to use it as a genetic tool.
Considered a revolution in the fields of medicine, biotechnology and agriculture, the CRISPR technology can modify any genetic sequence in the cells of living organisms.
In 2014, Charpentier co-founded ERS Genomics in Dublin, alongside Rodger Novak and Shaun Foy, to provide patent rights to CRISPR/Cas9.
Eric Rhodes, chief executive officer of ERS Genomics, paid tribute to Charpentier’s achievement, and said: “We have been looking forward to this day for some time and we at ERS are so pleased for Emmanuelle. We offer our hearty congratulations for this well-deserved recognition of her fundamental contribution to the discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 platform and its application to genome editing."
Charpentier said:“Receiving the prestigious Nobel Prize, the highest distinction in science, is an extraordinary honour. I am very grateful and truly moved to receive this recognition for our work on the CRISPR/Cas9 system.”
The development of CRISPR has not been without controversy, however. The inventorship status of CRISPR/Cas9 triggered a long-running dispute between the UC, Berkeley, and its collaborators, and the Broad Institute, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
In June 2019, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) revived the dispute between the two parties by declaring a second interference proceeding between 13 patents and one application of the Broad Institute and ten patent applications filed by UC, Berkeley, all covering the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in eukaryotic cells.
Six months later, the USPTO granted UC its 20th US patent on CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technologies.
The two laureates will share a prize of 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.07 million).
Read LSIPR’s interview with ERS Genomics’ Rhodes here.
Watch an LSPN Connect interview with Ben Sodey, senior corporate patent counsel at CRISPR patent owner MilliporeSigma via here.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.
