Two scientists, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, won the Nobel Prize for innovating a new technology for genome editing. For the first time, the tool allows scientists to make accurate changes to the DNA strands in many organisms, including human beings. Being quick and easy to operate, the instrument shows potential to produce a wide variety of drugs to help cure many diseases, such as HIV and sickle cell. Emmanuelle Charpentier, a microbiologist, and Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist, shared the prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor, or approximately $1.1 million.

CRISPR/Cas9, the genome editing tool, is used by science and pharmaceutical industries and is often described as “genetic scissors”. Research labs utilize this tool for many experiments like genetically engineering a new breed of crops that can withstand droughts and resist harmful insects. This instrument also allows an investment of medicinal research in the search for new cancers, hemophilia treatments, and cystic-fibrosis treatments.

“It is being used all over science,” states Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

However, implementing CRISPR/Cas9 also comes with some downsides: asking ethical questions about the numerous applications of the technology (for instance, gene editing human infants in China, which is illegal in the country). Due to this, a storm of worries and complaints about using CRISPR/Cas9 rose.

“It’s important to have responsible use of this technology in the future,” says Jennifer Doudna. Doudna was involved in the scientific groups that wrote down the ethical guidelines for CRISPR/Cas9. While she strongly supports using the tool to make changes to sperm and egg for therapeutic reasons, Doudna does not believe in using the technology to enhance human abilities.

CRISPR/Cas9 is currently being used to cure a variety of diseases. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are using the editing instrument to develop diagnostic tests for virus detection. In a press conference about the new technology, Doudna mentioned that CRISPR is being utilized to get the genome editing molecules into blood and eye cells. By editing these molecules, related diseases and blood illnesses, such as sickle cell disease, can be controlled. According to Doudna, this instrument can be used on neurodegenerative diseases, where there is a need of help from a tool like CRISPR/Cas9.

The Nobel Committee felt that Charpentier and Doudna’s technology “had already benefited humankind greatly”. CRISPR/Cas9 has been used so far to treat disorders like blindness. The tool is predicted to help scientists further in their research, so that medical conditions can be cured and advancements can be made.

written by Sriya Yalamanchili

edited by Keerthi Selvam and Saanvi Gutta

 

References:

Heinel, Alexander. “Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier Share the 2020 Nobel Chemistry Prize for Their Discovery of a Game-Changing Gene-Editing Technique.” Pioneers of Revolutionary CRISPR Gene Editing Win Chemistry Nobel, 7 Oct. 2020, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02765-9