Nobel Prize

For her breakthrough work first describing CRISPR as a genome engineering tool that can rewrite DNA — the code of life — Thermal client Jennifer Doudna received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Illustration of 2020 Nobel Prize of Chemistry recipients Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna

Read the official announcement, here.

We at Thermal are so proud to have supported Dr. Doudna since 2016 to advance public understanding of CRISPR’s applications, risks, and opportunities as it moves from the lab into the clinic, and to promote a global conversation about its ethical use and equitable access.

Let’s cover some of the background. In 2012, Dr. Jennifer Doudna invented a revolutionary technology that could edit the genomes of animals, plants, and microorganisms. With collaborator Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, she published a landmark paper on the “CRISPR” system that would come to change the course of science forever.

Less than a decade after their discovery, CRISPR has become commonplace in labs across the world and indispensable to scientists advancing the fields of medicine, agriculture, and energy.

In October of 2020, Dr. Doudna made history again as she and Dr. Charpentier became the first all-female team to win a Nobel Prize.

Dr. Doudna, who is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, the president and chair of the Innovative Genomics Institute, and senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, is the first woman on the UC Berkeley faculty to win the award.

“This great honor recognizes the history of CRISPR and the collaborative story of harnessing it into a profoundly powerful engineering technology that gives new hope and possibility to our society. What started as a curiosity driven, fundamental discovery project has now become the breakthrough strategy used by countless researchers working to help improve the human condition.”

Dr. Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of CRISPR-Cas genome editing and 2020 Nobel laureate

What a moment, what a day, and what a future we all have to look forward to – thanks to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier!

Jennifer Doudna laughs - Nobel Prize in Chemistry — Jennifer Doudna laughs as she drinks coffee and talks with reporters in the early hours of the morning at her home on Oct. 7, 2020 after learning that she had received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Ultimately, this breakthrough technology gives new hope to millions worldwide. Better treatments and cures for disease, cleaner biofuels, and more nutritious, sustainable foods are now possible in this “age of CRISPR.”

Our warmest congratulations on this incredible achievement to our client, friend, and iconic Nobel Prize winning scientist, Dr. Jennifer Doudna.

Please click here to read about our approach to partnering with her.

Also, below is curated list of some of our favorite interviews, features, and multimedia over the years.