WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2020 — On behalf of the American Chemical Society (ACS), President Luis Echegoyen, Ph.D., congratulates today’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens (Germany) and Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize “for the development of a method for genome editing.”
“Today’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes CRISPR-Cas9, a super-selective and precise gene-editing tool where chemistry plays an incredibly important role,” says Echegoyen. “This discovery, originally derived from a natural defense mechanism in bacteria against viruses, will have untold applications in treating and curing genetic diseases and fighting cancer, as well as impacts on agricultural and other areas. The future for this technique is indeed bright and promising.”
Doudna has been a member of ACS for 21 years. She has published articles in some of ACS’ more than 60 peer-reviewed journals. In addition, news articles on the work of both winners have appeared in Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine. Articles are available from the contacts below. An ACS Chemical Biology CRISPR special issue can be found here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acschembio.8b00134.
News media can arrange telephone interviews with Echegoyen or other experts in the field by calling or emailing ACS via the contact information.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder® and STN®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
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