Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing”. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.It is for the first time a Nobel science prize has gone to a women­only team.

About Emmanuelle Charpentier:

• Emmanuelle Charpentier, born 1968 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, France.
• 1995 from Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
• Director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany.

About Jennifer A. Doudna:

• Jennifer A. Doudna, born 1964 in Washington, D.C, USA.
• 1989 from Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
• Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

About CRISPR-Cas9 DNA

• The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two molecules that make an edit in the DNA.

Cas9

• It is an enzyme which functions as a pair of ‘molecular scissors.
• It has the ability to cut the two strands (sense and anti-sense) of DNA at a specific location in the genome.

guide RNA (gRNA)

• It is a short (20 bases or so) piece of pre-designed RNA sequence located within a longer RNA scaffold.
• The gRNA guides the Cas9 to the planned part of the genome ensuring the right place is cut.
• The gRNA has bases which are complementary to the target sequence in the DNA like a very specific lego piece.
• This in theory ensures that the gRNA binds only to the desired sequence and not somewhere off-target.
• The Cas9 scissor enzyme is guided to the desired location and snips across both strands of the DNA.
• Francisco Mojica faculty of the University of Alicante was the first person to report the CRISPR locus in 1993.

Significance.

• Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision.
• This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and also for curing inherited diseases.
• In 2018 in China, scientist He Jiankui caused an international scandal when he used CRISPR to create what he called the first gene­edited humans.sequence and their function.

The event behind the commencement of the Nobel Prize:

Actually, there was a news accidentally published in a newspaper behind the introduction of Nobel Prize. In 1888, a newspaper accidentally printed “Death of the merchant of death”, ie Alfred Nobel has died. The newspaper also held Alfred responsible for the death of thousands due to the invention of dynamite. This false news of his death was also read by Alfred himself. But the words “merchant of death” used for him in this newspaper shook Alfred Nobel badly. Suddenly he thought that this news of his death would be true at some time or the other; So will the world know him by this name? He decided that he would erase this stain on his personality.

Alfred Nobel wrote his will on 27 November 1895 in which he set aside the largest part of his wealth to form a trust. After deducting all taxes, 94% of Alfred Nobel’s total wealth, ie, 31,225,000 Swedish Kronor five Nobel prizes. Had been allocated for the establishment. Alfred Nobel wished that the interest on this amount should be awarded every year to those whose work is found to be the most welfare for mankind. It is given to those who have worked towards enhancing human welfare. This is the reason that the Nobel Prize has been given mostly to those people who have developed a medicine or vaccine to overcome a disease or have made tireless efforts to increase peace and harmony in the world.

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