Contents
Jennifer Doudna
Co-developing CRISPR-Cas9 as a programmable tool for editing DNA.
CRISPR-Cas9 · Nobel Prize 2020
- Born
- 19 February 1964
- Birthplace
- Washington, D.C., United States
More people
Jennifer Doudna
Jennifer Doudna is an American biochemist whose collaboration with Emmanuelle Charpentier produced a method for precisely cutting DNA. They shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Early life
Hawaii childhood
Grew up in Hilo, where the natural world helped spark her interest in science.
Chemistry training
Studied at Pomona College and completed a doctorate at Harvard under Jack Szostak.
Career
- 1994
Yale laboratory
Established research on RNA structure and function.
- 2002
Berkeley move
Joined the University of California, Berkeley.
- 2012
Programmable DNA cutting
Published the CRISPR-Cas9 work with Charpentier and their collaborators.
- 2020
Chemistry Nobel
Shared the prize for developing a genome-editing method.
Contributions
RNA structures
Investigated how RNA folds and carries out chemical reactions.
CRISPR-Cas9 method
Showed that an RNA guide could direct Cas9 to cut a chosen DNA sequence.
A Crack in Creation
Co-wrote a book with Samuel Sternberg about gene editing and its implications.
Beyond the lab
Ethical questions
Has called for public discussion of the consequences of editing human embryos and inherited DNA.
Research into applications
Co-founded the Innovative Genomics Institute, pursuing uses of genome editing in health and agriculture.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Nobel Prize biography and award ↗Photo: Christopher Michel. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
