2020
CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing
Emmanuelle Charpentier & Jennifer A. Doudna
About This Prize
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.” They discovered that the bacterial immune system CRISPR-Cas9 could be reprogrammed with a synthetic guide RNA to cut DNA at any desired location, creating a revolutionary gene editing tool. CRISPR-Cas9 has transformed biology, enabling precise genome engineering in organisms from bacteria to humans, with applications in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology.
Emmanuelle Charpentier
“For the Development of a Method for Genome Editing”
Jennifer A. Doudna
“The Chemistry of CRISPR: Editing the Code of Life”
Key Concepts
- • CRISPR-Cas9: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats — a bacterial adaptive immune system repurposed for genome editing
- • Guide RNA: A programmable ~20-nucleotide RNA sequence that directs Cas9 to complementary DNA targets
- • Double-Strand Break: Cas9 creates a precise DSB, enabling gene knockout (NHEJ) or precise editing (HDR)
- • Therapeutic Applications: Sickle cell disease, beta-thalassemia (Casgevy), cancer immunotherapy, and genetic disease correction