American Chemical Society’s president comments on award of 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

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 at the contact information below.