Biosciences Area

Doudna Awarded 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Biochemist Jennifer Doudna, a professor at UC Berkeley and faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the development of a method for genome editing.” She shares the Nobel Prize with co-discoverer Emmanuelle Charpentier, who currently serves as the scientific and managing director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin. In 2012, Doudna and Charpentier’s research team detailed the underlying mechanisms of the CRISPR-Cas9 system – a component of the bacterial immune system that defends against invading viruses – and explained how it can be programmed to cut DNA at a target sequence.

Jennifer Doudna Awarded 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine

Jennifer Doudna, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division, will share the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine, a prestigious international prize awarded in Israel for unique contributions to humanity. Doudna, who is also UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry, and colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany, were honored for their 2012 invention of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. 

Jennifer Doudna Honored with Two Prizes

Faculty scientist Jennifer Doudna was recently honored by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, which awarded her the 2019 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest, and by the Microbiology Society, which bestowed its 2019 Prize Medal on her.

Jennifer Doudna Awarded LUI Che Woo Prize

The Hong Kong-based LUI Che Woo Prize organization has named Jennifer Doudna one of three 2019 Prize for World Civilisation laureates. Doudna, a faculty scientist in Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry at UC Berkeley, was awarded the Welfare Betterment Prize for her pioneering discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.

Established in 2015, the international award recognizes and honors an individual or organization contributing to sustainable development, the betterment of the welfare of humankind and the “promotion of positive life attitude and enhancement of positive energy,” according to the announcement. The prizes will be bestowed in a ceremony in Hong Kong on October 3. Each laureate will receive a certificate, a trophy, and a cash award equivalent to approximately 2.56 million U.S. dollars.

Read more in the UC Berkeley News Center.

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