Interview: Nobel chemistry laureate Jennifer Doudna on the promise and peril of the genetic editing revolution
By John Mecklin,
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
| 12. 07. 2020
Just weeks after I interviewed her this September, UC Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna and her colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing tool. An acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, CRISPR sequences were found in bacteria, where they protect against viruses by chopping them into pieces. Doudna and Charpentier devised a way to reprogram these genetic scissors, so they could be directed to cut any DNA molecule at a predetermined site.
The CRISPR/Cas9 editing tool has greatly reduced the amount of time needed to edit genes and is now in use by researchers around the world. “There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all. It has not only revolutionized basic science, but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to ground-breaking new medical treatments,” Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a press release accompanying the Nobel Prize announcement.
The positive potential of CRISPR editing tools is indeed breathtaking. “This tool has contributed to many important discoveries...
Related Articles
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025
Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
