By Linda Givetash - NBC News
LONDON - Scientists Emmanuelle Charpientier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for their pioneering work in genome editing, which has the potential to save lives and be applied to cure genetic diseases.
"This year's award is to rewrite the code of life," said Secretary General Göran K. Hansson of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, presenting the award to the American biologist Doudna and the French microbiologist Charpentier.
Only five women have previously won the chemistry award
, which has been awarded 111 times to 183 people between 1901 and 2019.
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Charpentier (Juvisy-sur-Orge, France, 1968), is a biochemist and microbiologist specialized in viruses and one of the most innovative researchers in the field of gene therapy who in 2002 established her own work group and has been linked to different universities in Austria and Germany.
Doudna (Washington DC, 1964), Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard, is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where she also directs the Division of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology.
Doudna and Charpentier developed a type of genetic scissors called CRISPR / Cas9 that is used
"to change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision
,
"
according to the agency committee.
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The "revolutionary" method has contributed to the development of new cancer therapies
and has the potential to be used to cure inherited diseases.
"It has not only revolutionized basic science
, it has also led to innovative crops and will lead to new medical treatments," explained Claes Gustafsson, chair of the chemistry committee, in a statement.
In addition to making important advances in genetic research, Charpentier said at the telephone press conference that she hopes the award will encourage girls to pursue science.
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"I wish this would provide a positive message ... to show you, in principle, that women in science can also receive awards, but more importantly, women in science can also have an impact on research that is performing, "he said.
The Chemistry of the Year award went to the American John B. Goodenough, the British-American M. Stanley Whittingham and the Japanese Akira Yoshino for their development of the long-lasting lithium-ion battery.
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The announcement of the Chemistry prize is the last in the round of eminently scientific awards among Nobel laureates, after those for Medicine were revealed on Monday and Physics on Tuesday.
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The Medicine one went to three virologists, the Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and the British Michael Houghton, for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.
The British Roger Penrose, the German Reinhard Genzel and the American Andrea Ghez will share that of Physics for his discoveries about the black holes of the universe.
On Thursday the one corresponding to Literature will be announced, on Friday the one on Peace will follow and the round will finally be closed with that of Economy, next Monday.
The prestigious award was established by the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel
, who dictated in his will that it would honor "those who, during the previous year, have bestowed the greatest benefit on mankind."
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All the prizes include a financial prize, which this year increased
to 10 million Swedish crowns - one million more compared to 2019 - (1.1 million dollars)
, to be distributed in the event of more than one winner.
All the awards are presented on December 10, the anniversary of the death of the founder, Alfred Nobel, in parallel events in Stockholm, for scientists, literature and economics, while the Peace is held in Oslo.
Both the announcements of the awards and the delivery will be in this edition in a reduced format due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With information from AP and EFE.