Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
The Lalaholding Beaker
The Lalaholding Beaker
Her Campus Media
Culture > News

Who is the 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize Winner Jennifer A. Doudna?

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CU Boulder chapter.

Thirty years ago today, postdoctoral scholar Jennifer A. Doudna graced the CU Boulder lab in 1991 as the Lucille P. Markey Postdoctoral Scholar in Biomedical Science. She won her own Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the co-development of the revolutionary genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, an accomplishment to celebrate. She is inspiring other students at CU to take the lead in their field.

“It still amazes me every day,” said Doudna after receiving the call that they had won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. “I assumed she was calling me to ask me to comment on somebody else winning the Nobel Prize!”

open books laid out
Photo by Patrick Tomasso from Unsplash

Her research was based on RNA forms, a variety of complex globular structures, some of which function like enzymes or form functional complexes with proteins. RNA biology led to the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for making targeted changes to the genome. In bacteria, CRISPR systems preserve invading genetic material and incorporate it into surveillance complexes to achieve adaptive immunity. Crystal structures of diverse Cas9 proteins reveal RNA-mediated conformational activation. New discoveries in this field continue at a rapid pace, revealing a technology that has widespread applications in many areas of biology.

Woman looking into a microscope
Photo by Edward Jenner from Pexels

At the time of the award, she is working at the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Her motivation was the development of a method for genome editing.

“We had a sense that we were onto something big,” said Jennifer Doudna, as she recalled the start of her “curiosity-driven” research into CRISPR and reflects on the pace of the field.

The award of the prize to her and Emmanuelle Charpentier will, she hopes, be an encouragement to other women. “Sometimes, there’s a sense that no matter what they do, their work will not be recognized in the way it would be if they were a man,” she said. 

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay
She plans to continue her work and motivate other women to do the same.

 

Information from: 

Nobel Prize

The University of Colorado at Boulder

Ornella Musinguzi

CU Boulder '24

Ornella is a freshman and a writer for hercampus CU Boulder. She is majoring in Political Science, with a minor in leadership studies and philosophy. She likes to write about current events and news.
Sko Buffs!