The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to female genome editing pioneers Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 to Emmanuelle Charpentier, Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany and Jennifer A. Doudna, University of California, Berkeley, USA, for their development of a method for genome editing Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true. By the terms of Alfred Nobel’s will the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1901. Read full press release and watch the official announcement on Youtube.