Research Expertise and Interest
RNA machines, hepatitis C virus, RNA interference, ribosomes, x-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing
Research Description
Jennifer Doudna is a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences, and a Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology. Her research focuses on RNA as it forms a variety of complex globular structures, some of which function like enzymes or form functional complexes with proteins. Her lab's research into 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. Current research in the Doudna lab focuses on discovering and determining the mechanisms of novel CRISPR-Cas and associated proteins; developing genome editing tools for use in vitro, in plants, and in mammals; and developing anti-CRISPR agents. New discoveries in this field continue at a rapid pace, revealing a technology that has widespread applications in many areas of biology.
See also: https://innovativegenomics.org
In the News
Highly Targeted CRISPR Delivery Advances Gene Editing in Living Animals
Precision-targeted gene editing on specific subsets of cells while still in the body is a step toward a delivery method that would eliminate the need to obliterate patients' bone marrow and immune system before giving them edited blood cells.
A History of Innovation: Berkeley Entrepreneurs, Companies that Changed the Way We Live
The culture and spirit of innovation at UC Berkeley throughout history can be seen in the changemakers who have helped in countless ways to improve our lives and our world.
IGI’s ‘Audacious’ New Frontier for CRISPR: Editing Microbiomes for Climate and Health
$70M funding will catalyze a bold new initiative led by Jennifer Doudna and Jill Banfield to apply precision genome editing to microbial communities.
What Makes Omicron More Infectious Than Other COVID-19 Variants
As the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly around the globe earlier this year, researchers at Gladstone Institutes, UC Berkeley, and the Innovative Genomics Institute used virus-like particles to identify which parts of the virus are responsible for its increased infectivity and spread.
In 10 years, CRISPR Transformed Medicine. Can It Now Help Us Deal With Climate Change?
Coming from a long line of Iowa farmers, David Savage always thought he would do research to improve crops. That dream died in college, when it became clear that any genetic tweak to a crop would take at least a year to test; for some perennials and trees, it could take five to 10 years. Faced with such slow progress, he chose to study the proteins in photosynthetic bacteria instead. But the advent of CRISPR changed all that.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Puts $11 Million Into Carbon Capture Research
New funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative kickstarts CRISPR-enabled carbon removal research at the Innovative Genomics Institute
Omicron Infection Leaves Unvaxxed With Little Protection Against Variant
In unvaccinated people, infection with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 provides little long-term immunity against other variants, according to a new study by researchers at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF), published today in the journal Nature.
Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub Opens Its Doors
UC Berkeley’s campus community this week celebrated the grand opening of the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub (BBH), the campus’s bold new home for research and innovation. After two years of seismic upgrades and renovations, BBH celebrated its opening this month. Bakar Labs, the facility’s flagship life sciences incubator, has been operational since mid-November, offering space to tenant companies.
CRISPRing the Microbiome is Just Around the Corner
To date, CRISPR enzymes have been used to edit the genomes of one type of cell at a time: They cut, delete or add genes to a specific kind of cell within a tissue or organ, for example, or to one kind of microbe growing in a test tube.
Now, the University of California, Berkeley, group that invented the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology nearly 10 years ago has found a way to add or modify genes within a community of many different species simultaneously, opening the door to what could be called “community editing.”
$17 Million Will Launch Trial of CRISPR Cure for Sickle Cell Disease
A small clinical trial of a CRISPR cure for sickle cell disease, approved earlier this year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has received $17 million to enroll about nine patients, the first of which may be selected before the end of the year.
The funds — $8.4 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and $8.6 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) — were awarded to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, which will coordinate the four-year clinical study in collaboration with colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA.
Using two CRISPR enzymes, a COVID diagnostic in only 20 minutes
Frequent, rapid testing for COVID-19 is critical to controlling the spread of outbreaks, especially as new, more transmissible variants emerge. A research team at the UC, Berkeley is aiming to develop a diagnostic test that is much faster and easier to deploy than the gold standard qRT-PCR diagnostic test. The team has now combined two different types of CRISPR enzymes to create an assay that can detect small amounts of viral RNA in less than an hour.
High-powered, but supportive, environment draws students to Nobel winners’ labs
On the morning that University of California, Berkeley, professor Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, her first stop after a 7 a.m. press conference and subsequent media interviews was her campus lab in the Innovative Genomics Institute. When she exited the elevator with her family at 10:30 a.m., she was greeted by dozens of graduate students and lab staff, while several dozen current and former lab members joined in via Zoom.
Nobel Prize ceremonies go virtual for Doudna, Genzel
For the first time since World War II, winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes will not be receiving their medals and diplomas from the King of Sweden in Stockholm. The pandemic has forced the Nobel Committees to deliver the medals to recipients at their homes, with just immediate family and consular or embassy officials in attendance.
New CRISPR-based COVID-19 test uses smartphone cameras to spot virus RNA
Identifying and isolating individuals who may be contagious with the coronavirus is key to limiting the spread of the disease. But even months into the pandemic, many patients are still waiting days to receive COVID-19 test results.
UC Berkeley campus reacts to this week’s two Nobel Prize wins
In just two days, UC Berkeley is two Nobel Prizes richer. Today (Wednesday, Oct. 7), biochemist Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with her colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, for the co-development of CRISPR-Cas9, a revolutionary gene-editing tool that allows scientists to rewrite DNA.
First Day in a Nobel Life: Jennifer Doudna
When UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna went to sleep last night, she didn’t give serious thought to her chance of winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Then, a phone call woke her up today, just before 3 a.m. It was a reporter, asking for a comment about winning the prize. Doudna said her initial response was, “Who won?”
Jill Banfield: How a curious Google search led me to Jennifer Doudna
Jill Banfield is a UC Berkeley professor who studies the structure, functioning and diversity of microbial communities in natural environments and the human microbiome. In this “On My Mind” feature, she describes how she first met Berkeley’s newest Nobel laureate, Jennifer Doudna, who gave thanks to Banfield at Wednesday’s press conference.
What’s CRISPR? Jennifer Doudna and Radiolab can explain
Still don’t understand how CRISPR — clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats — works or what it means for chemistry, medicine or human society?
UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna wins 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
University of California, Berkeley, biochemist Jennifer Doudna today won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier for the co-development of CRISPR-Cas9, a genome editing breakthrough that has revolutionized biomedicine.
UC Berkeley launches trial of saliva test for COVID-19
Scientists from the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), the same UC Berkeley group that rapidly popped up a state-of-the-art COVID-19 testing laboratory in March, are now trialing a quicker way to obtain patient samples: through saliva.
Scientists pivot to COVID-19 research, hoping for quick results to deal with pandemic
Thanks to a rapid funding program thrown together by wealthy entrepreneurs barely six weeks ago, seven COVID-19 research projects at the University of California, Berkeley, are getting an infusion of cash — $2.2 million in all — that could turn up new diagnostics and potential treatments for the infection within months.
Campus lab takes COVID-19 testing to utility workers, underserved
A month after opening, a COVID-19 testing lab at the University of California, Berkeley, has branched out from evaluating symptomatic students to assessing a broader range of people potentially exposed to the new coronavirus, including residents of local nursing homes, the East Bay’s homeless population, front-line firefighters and police officers and, now, utility workers around the state.
UC Berkeley scientists spin up a robotic COVID-19 testing lab
As doctors around the country scramble to diagnose cases of COVID-19, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) are creating from scratch a diagnostic lab with the capability to process more than 1,000 patient samples per day.
Jennifer Doudna awarded 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine
Jennifer Doudna has won the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine, a prestigious international prize awarded in Israel for unique contributions to humanity.
UC Rings Out 2019 With its 20th CRISPR Patent
The federal government has given the University of California a New Year’s Eve gift — its 20th U.S. patent on CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technologies. The addition expands a broad patent portfolio that is already being used to improve human and animal health and crop breeding.
UC now holds largest CRISPR-Cas9 patent portfolio
Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted a new CRISPR-Cas9 patent to the University of California, University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier covering new methods of gene editing in prokaryotic cells. The new patent covers methods of targeting and binding or methods of cleaving a target DNA in a prokaryotic cell using Cas9 protein and single molecule DNA targeting RNAs. This patent specifically covers these methods in bacterial cells.
University of California awarded 15th U.S. CRISPR-Cas9 patent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today granted the University of California (UC) and its partners, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, a new CRISPR-Cas9 patent, bringing the team’s continually expanding patent portfolio to 15.
CRISPR portfolio now at 14 and counting
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today awarded the University of California (UC), University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier a patent for CRISPR-Cas9 that, along with two others awarded this month, brings the team’s comprehensive portfolio of gene-editing patents to 14.
UC receives its 11th U.S. patent for CRISPR-Cas9
The University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier received an 11th U.S. patent involving CRISPR-Cas9, further expanding the reach of UC’s patented technology relating to this revolutionary gene-editing tool.
Doudna awarded prize for helping build a better, more harmonious world
Structural biologist and biochemist Jennifer Doudna has been honored with the 2019 Welfare Betterment Prize, a relatively new Hong Kong-based prize, for her pioneering discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. “Its potential applications for improving human welfare are vast, and Dr. Doudna’s work has already given hope to millions worldwide,” the board of the Lui Che Woo Prize — Prize for World Civilization said in an announcement.
Newly granted CRISPR patents boost UC’s U.S. portfolio to 10
The University of California has received two new patents for use of the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 technology, increasing its gene-editing patent portfolio to 10. Five more are expected to be issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the end of the summer.
Eighth CRISPR patent issued by U.S.; seven more soon to come
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has awarded a new patent to the University of California (UC), University of Vienna, and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier covering methods of producing a genetically modified cell through the introduction of the Cas9 protein, or a nucleic acid encoding the Cas9 protein, as well as a single molecule DNA-targeting RNA. This patent (U.S. 10,351,878) covers the use of this method in a cell.
GlaxoSmithKline taps UC’s CRISPR expertise to speed drug discovery
The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced a five-year collaboration with UC Berkeley and UCSF to establish a laboratory where state-of-the-art CRISPR techniques will be used to explore how gene mutations cause disease, potentially yielding new technologies using CRISPR that would rapidly accelerate the discovery of new medicines.
Introducing a kinder, gentler way to blow holes in cells
A new technique developed by University of California, Berkeley uses inexpensive lab equipment to efficiently infuse large macromolecules into cells. Called nanopore-electroporation, or nanoEP, the technique gently creates fewer than a dozen tiny holes in each cell that are sufficient to let molecules into the cell without traumatizing it.
UC awarded third CRISPR patent, expanding its gene-editing portfolio
The University of California announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued U.S. Patent Number 10,227,611 covering use of single-molecule RNA guides and Cas9 protein in any cell, thus creating efficient and effective ways for scientists to target and edit genes.
U.S. patent office indicates it will issue third CRISPR patent to UC
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a notice of allowance for a University of California patent application covering systems and methods for using single molecule guide RNAs that, when combined with the Cas9 protein, create more efficient and effective ways for scientists to target and edit genes.
Patent awarded for DNA-targeting complex at heart of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing
The University of California announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent Number 10,113,167, covering unique RNA guides that, when combined with the Cas9 protein, are effective at homing in on and editing genes.
Doudna receives Medal of Honor from American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society will bestow its highest honor, the Medal of Honor, on Jennifer Doudna and four others. The medal is awarded to distinguished individuals who have made valuable contributions in the fight against cancer through basic research, clinical research and cancer control.
CRISPR scissors, Cas12a, enables cutting-edge diagnostics
CRISPR-Cas12a, one of the DNA-cutting proteins revolutionizing biology today, has an unexpected side effect that makes it an ideal enzyme for simple, rapid and accurate disease diagnostics.
Discovery helps engineer more accurate Cas9s for CRISPR editing
Further steps made toward a hyper-accurate gene editor.
Researchers discover how CRISPR proteins find their target
UC Berkeley researchers have discovered how Cas1-Cas2, the proteins responsible for the ability of the CRISPR immune system in bacteria to adapt to new viral infections, identify the site in the genome where they insert viral DNA so they can recognize it later and mount an attack.
Defense department pours $65 million into making CRISPR safer
With one eye on potential bioterrorism threats, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency today announced $65 million in funding to seven projects around the country – including one led by UC Berkeley – to improve the safety and accuracy of gene editing.
Anti-CRISPR proteins decrease off-target side effects of CRISPR-Cas9
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing is based on a tactic bacteria developed to protect themselves from viruses.
European Patent Office to grant UC a broad patent on CRISPR-Cas9
The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced its intention to grant a broad patent for the revolutionary CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to the University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.
Doudna awarded Japan Prize for invention of CRISPR gene editing
Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier were awarded the Japan Prize today for their invention of the revolutionary gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9.
CRISPR research institute expands into agriculture, microbiology
An initiative launched two years ago by UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco to use CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to develop new disease therapies is expanding into research on the planet’s major crops and poorly understood microbiomes.
CRISPR toolbox expanded by protein that cuts RNA in two distinct ways
A team of researchers have expanded the role of the newly discovered CRISPR protein C2c2 that targets RNA instead of DNA.
UC Berkeley to partner in $600M Chan Zuckerberg science ‘Biohub’
An unprecedented collaboration between the Bay Area’s three premier research universities.
Taiwan’s Tang Prizes awarded to Doudna, Rosenfeld
Taiwan’s top science award, the Tang Prize, has gone to two UC Berkeley scientists well-known in the fields of biochemistry and physics: Jennifer Doudna, for her invention of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and Arthur Rosenfeld, often called the “godfather of energy efficiency.”
Doudna named foreign member of UK’s Royal Society
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna has been named a foreign member of the prestigious Royal Society, a rare honor for a UC Berkeley faculty member.
Doudna joins Biden in Davos rollout of ‘cancer moonshot’
UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna joined Joseph Biden this morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as the vice president promoted a major new U.S. initiative to speed the discovery of cures for cancer.
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing: check three times, cut once
Two new studies from UC Berkeley should give scientists who use CRISPR-Cas9 for genome engineering greater confidence that they won’t inadvertently edit the wrong DNA.
Unlocking the Key to Immunological Memory in Bacteria
A powerful genome editing tool may soon become even more powerful. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have unlocked the key to how bacteria are able to “steal” genetic information from viruses and other foreign invaders for use in their own immunological memory system.
Jennifer Doudna, Saul Perlmutter named 2015 Breakthrough Prize winners
Two UC Berkeley scientists — structural biologist Jennifer Doudna and physicist Saul Perlmutter — were named 2015 Breakthrough Prize winners in life sciences and physics, respectively, at a star-studded gala in Silicon Valley.
Jennifer Doudna featured on NPR's Morning Edition for her work on CRISPR/Cas9 — a tool for editing genes
Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues showed that CRISPR/Cas9, can be used with great precision to selectively disable or add several genes at once in human cells, offering a potent new tool to understand and treat complex genetic diseases.
College of Chemistry launches research hub with BASF, UCLA and Stanford
The College of Chemistry has launched a new collaborative research center, the California Research Alliance by BASF (CARA), a multidisciplinary effort focused on innovation and technology transfer. Along with Berkeley and the chemical company BASF, CARA academic partners include UCLA and Stanford University.
Crispr Goes Global
Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues showed that CRISPR/Cas9, can be used with great precision to selectively disable or add several genes at once in human cells, offering a potent new tool to understand and treat complex genetic diseases.
Jennifer Doudna receives Lurie Award for gene editing breakthrough
Jennifer Doudna, professor of molecular and cell biology, is the 2014 recipient of the Lurie Prize in the Biomedical Sciences from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.
New insight into an emerging genome-editing tool
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna and biophysicist Eva Nogales led an international collaboration with results that point the way to the rational design of new and improved versions of Cas9 enzymes for basic research and genetic engineering.
Puzzling question in bacterial immune system answered
A team of researchers with the Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have determined how the bacterial enzyme known as Cas9, guided by RNA, is able to identify and degrade foreign DNA during viral infections, as well as induce site-specific genetic changes in animal and plant cells
Science magazine calls Berkeley discoveries top breakthroughs of 2013
Science magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year for 2013 – cancer immunotherapy – emerged from work conducted at UC Berkeley in the 1990s, while a 2012 UC Berkeley discovery was named one of nine runners up for the annual honor.
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna hailed for discovery of ‘holy grail’ of genetic engineering
Jennifer Doudna, Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology at UC Berkeley was recently featured in the Independent for her work on Crispr, which has taken the world of genetics by storm.
Cheap and easy technique to snip DNA could revolutionize gene therapy
A simple, precise and inexpensive method for cutting DNA to insert genes into human cells could transform genetic medicine, making routine what now are expensive, complicated and rare procedures for replacing defective genes in order to fix genetic disease or even cure AIDS.
Pilot program to bolster biophysical sciences’ innovation pipeline
The new Bakar Fellows Program is designed to help early-career Berkeley faculty commercialize promising research discoveries.
Doudna elected to Institute of Medicine
Jennifer Doudna has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine, considered one of the highest honors in the fields of medicine and health. A professor of molecular and cell biology and an LBNL scientist, Doudna is one of only 12 IOM members on the UC Berkeley faculty.
Gates foundation awards $100,000 grants for novel global health research
Two UC Berkeley scientists, Jennifer Doudna and John Ngai, each will receive a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to explore innovative research that could impact global health.
Featured in the Media
Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
January 9, 2024
Nobel laureate and Professor Jennifer Doudna will oversee the new center’s work alongside Fyodor Urnov, Doudna’s fellow Berkeley professor.
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March 29, 2022
Innovative Genomics Institute founder, Nobel Laureate, and CRISPR co-founder Jennifer Doudna joins Emily Chang to discuss the future of the CRISPR technology and its commercialization, as well as the biotech industry landscape post-pandemic. She also gives her reaction to UC Berkeley losing the CRISPR patent battle against MIT and Harvard.
June 21, 2021
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna is best known for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, for which she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry. She's also a leading biotech entrepreneur, with several life science start-ups under her belt. In a rare interview, Doudna talks about the current work at her Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, where scientists are applying genome editing technology to diagnostics, drug discovery, agbiotech and even climate change.
December 14, 2020
Two recent proof-of-concept studies using novel smartphone-based CRISPR technology coupled with optics and fluorescence detection may be poised to change how we approach not only rapid testing and screening, but also testing for acute infection. Dr. Jennifer Doudna, one of the collaborating authors of this novel amplification-free RNA approach to CRISPR-based smartphone testing described in this paper, was also the co-recipient (along with Emmanuelle Carpentier) of the 2020 Nobel prize in Chemistry for her pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.
December 9, 2020
Tapping the expertise of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and medical smart-phone technology expert Dan Fletcher from UC Berkeley, researchers believe they're on the cusp of a point-of-care COVID test that would deliver results within 30 minutes. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.
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October 26, 2020
Coronavirus tests performed in labs are the gold standard for accuracy, and antigen tests are a fast and inexpensive alternative. But backers of a third type of test, developed by a Nobel Prize winner using cutting-edge CRISPR technology, say it has the potential to be all three: rapid, accurate and inexpensive. Dr. Jennifer Doudna, a University of California, Berkeley researcher whose pioneering work in CRISPR earned a share of this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, said the test can be done quickly and doesn't require a lab. "We have a ways to go before CRISPR-based diagnostics reach widespread use, but I believe we'll see an impact during the current pandemic," Doudna said. "Because it is simple to adjust these tests to detect other targets, the platform we're developing now is laying the groundwork to deploy CRISPR for rapid diagnosis during future outbreaks."
October 12, 2020
The New York Times talks to UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna about her winning the Nobel Prize in chemistry and about the impact the pandemic has had on her work. "I'd love to see science become more integrated into our daily conversations. It seems that in the past, at least in certain societies, science was much more integrated. And I would love to see us work toward that. We could be using different forms of media, whether it's in cartoons or short videos, and more conversational use of language that isn't exclusive - not using jargon. One of the things that I've seen in my career is that there's been an unfortunate change in the opposite direction where scientists are increasingly distrusted." For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.
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October 8, 2020
UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for her work helping to develop a genome-editing tool, a breakthrough in biomedicine. Working with colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Doudna developed CRISPR-Cas9, which allows scientists to edit DNA strands with previously unfathomable precision. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic have appeared in dozens of sources, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, AP News, Reuters, NPR, CNN, and The Mercury News.
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October 7, 2020
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and UC Berkeley professor Jennifer A. Doudna for their work on Crispr-Cas9, a method to edit DNA. The announcement marks the first time the award has gone to two women. "This year's prize is about rewriting the code of life," Goran K. Hansson, the secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said as he announced the names of the laureates. Dr. Charpentier and Dr. Doudna, only the sixth and seventh women in history to win a chemistry prize, did much of the pioneering work to turn molecules made by microbes into a tool for customizing genes whether in microbes, plants, animals or even humans. "I'm over the moon, I'm in shock," Dr. Doudna, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said at a news conference on Wednesday. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic have appeared in dozens of sources, including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, AP News, Reuters, NPR, CNN, and The Mercury News.
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September 18, 2020
UC Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna, one of the pioneers of the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, thinks the biotech tool could be an essential one for combating COVID-19 and future pandemics. Due to its capacity to be "reprogrammed" like software, CRISPR could eventually be integral to countless tests and treatments. "One thing that's so intriguing about the whole CRISPR technology, it's a toolbox and there's many ways to repurpose it for manipulating genomes, but also for detection, even getting virus materials and the kinds of reagents that you need for an effective vaccine," she explained.
August 7, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the development of CRISPR-based tests for detecting disease - and highlighting how gene-editing tools might one day fight pandemics, according to one of its discoverers, Jennifer Doudna, biochemistry professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
May 4, 2020
Molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of the CRISPR gene-editing technology, discusses the rapid transformation of one of her labs in the Innovative Genomic Institute into a popup COVID-19 testing lab that uses robots. The interview, in Italian, is the journal's cover story. For more on the lab, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic have appeared in dozens of sources around the world.
April 17, 2020
A new COVID-19 testing system that harnesses CRISPR gene-editing technology takes significantly less time to report results -- roughly 40 minutes, compared to the 4-to-6-hour turnaround with currently used tests. The scientists developing the CRISPR test are from UCSF and Mammoth Biosciences, a startup co-founded and advised by molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna, one of CRISPR's co-inventors. On Thursday, the researchers published a second study demonstrating the test's capabilities in the largest-yet sample of real patients in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Biotechnology. Speaking of how easy and self-contained the test is, compared to others currently used, Charles Chiu, associate director of the UCSF clinical microbiology laboratory and the scientist leading the study with Mammoth, says: "I can run it now myself at home. ... What we really want to develop is something like a handheld, pocket-sized device using disposable cartridges" that nonexperts could use. He says they plan to submit the test for FDA approval next week. Stories on this topic have appeared in more than 100 sources around the world, including CNET, KPIX Online, and KTVU--link to video.
April 16, 2020
A new COVID-19 testing system that harnesses CRISPR gene-editing technology takes significantly less time to report results -- roughly 40 minutes, compared to the 4-to-6-hour turnaround with currently used tests. The scientists developing the CRISPR test are from UCSF and Mammoth Biosciences, a startup co-founded and advised by molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna, one of CRISPR's co-inventors. On Thursday, the researchers published a second study demonstrating the test's capabilities in the largest-yet sample of real patients in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Biotechnology. The test does currently have some flaws, including false negatives, but, as Charles Chiu, associate director of the UCSF clinical microbiology laboratory and the scientist leading the study with Mammoth, says: "The advantage of this test is that it could be done rapidly, and even multiple times, if needed. ... We literally went from nothing to an assay in three weeks. ... This is a state-of-the-art technology. ... It's going to undergo a lot of regulatory scrutiny because it's going to be the first of its kind." Chiu says they plan to submit the test for FDA approval next week.
March 30, 2020
Molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna, co-inventor of the CRISPR gene editing technology, is leading a team of academic and industry researchers in setting up a testing site for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Using a 2,500-square-foot laboratory, they will serve the Bay Area, processing more than 1,000 samples a day. Later, if the need is there, they hope to be able to process 3,000 a day. "This is a big, big issue here in the U.S.," Professor Doudna says. "We need to ramp up testing very fast. It's been problematic for various reasons. And so we are building and implementing a clinical testing laboratory on the UC Berkeley campus to do exactly that. ... It's unbelievable to see how fast this is coming together and people writing software just overnight to put such a complicated pipeline in place and ensure that it's secure." For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Another story on this topic appeared in Berkeleyside.
March 24, 2020
As scientists race to find new diagnostic tests for the COVID-19 coronavirus, molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna is working on solutions using the CRISPR gene-editing technology she co-invented. Through Mammoth Biosciences, a biotechnology startup she co-founded, she aims to validate the CRISPR-based approach called DETECTR. It uses CRISPR to recognize specific genetic sequences and cut them. In the process, it also cuts a 'reporter' molecule added to the reaction, and that quickly shows if the viral genetic material is present. "Every single time we have an outbreak, we're one step behind in that we don't have a rapid diagnostic to detect that new organism," says Charles Chiu, an infectious-diseases physician at UCSF, who is working with Mammoth Biosciences. "The key advantage is that a CRISPR reaction is incredibly specific and can be done in 510 minutes." Another story on this topic appeared in Science.
February 28, 2020
In an interview about the CRISPR gene-editing technology she co-invented, molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna is asked how she feels about indications in human clinical trials that CRISPR is showing promise for the treatment of sickle cell anemia. She responds: "Deeply moved, because I think for any of us working in science, the idea that our work could someday help someone with a health care situation that they and their families are facing, that's really why we do our work. So I feel very excited about the potential of the technology. ... Of course, I'm cautious. I want to make sure that it proceeds in a very appropriate, regulated fashion, and these trials that we're seeing the early announcements for right now are going exactly down that path. ... Assuming that those trials pan out, the big question will be how do we make sure that this technology is affordable and accessible to people that need it? That's really the challenge that I'm now thinking more and more about and working on at the Innovative Genomics Institute."
January 15, 2020
Molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna is sharing the 2020 Wolf Prize in Medicine with colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute in Berlin for their co-invention of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology. The international prize is awarded in Israel by the Wolf Foundation, and it is widely considered a stepping stone to the Nobel Prize. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News. Stories on this topic have appeared in hundreds of sources around the world, including Haaretz (Israel).
January 3, 2020
The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted UC its 20th US patent on CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technologies, co-invented by molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna. It was the 18th CRISPR-Cas9-related patent awarded to UC and its collaborators in just the last year. "2019 was an incredibly important and fruitful year in our continuous efforts to sustain UC as the leader of CRISPR-Cas9 IP in the US," said Eldora Ellison, UC's lead patent strategist on CRISPR-Cas9 and a director at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox. For more on this, see our story at Berkeley News.
April 30, 2019
Biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues rocked the research world in 2012 when they described a simple way of editing the DNA of any organism using an RNA-guided protein found in bacteria. Discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology sharply accelerated work on human and nonhuman gene editing, helping researchers develop potential treatments for HIV, sickle-cell disease, and muscular dystrophy. Doudna, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has become the public face of CRISPR and an advocate for robust public discussion of the ethical implications of gene editing. In November 2018 she visited the Science History Institute to give the annual Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture and receive the accompanying award. Before the talk Distillations writer Meir Rinde sat down with Doudna to find out what scientists can do with CRISPR, whether we should worry about designer embryos, and how to grow 500 tomatoes on a single plant.
March 4, 2019
In a series called "Women Shaping the Future," molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna is profiled for her co-invention of the CRISPR gene-editing technology, which the writers describe as "capable of changing the DNA of any living thing almost as simply as using a find-and-replace function in a word processor." While noting the life-affirming potential of the technology -- from curing heritable diseases to enhancing crops -- they also highlight her leadership in ensuring that the technology is used ethically and responsibly. Professor Doudna was also interviewed by BBC--link to audio.
January 24, 2019
Molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna received the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize recently at Rockefeller University in New York. The honor, established by Nobel Laureat Paul Greengard and his wife, the artist Ursula von Rydingsvard, recognizes women scientists. Before the ceremony, Professor Doudna talked to this reporter, and their conversation is transcribed here. Asked about some of the difficulties she's experienced in patent cases related to her co-invention of the CRISPR genome-editing technology, she says: "The truth is that no one can ever take away from me the joy of the actual discovery. No one can take away those moments in the lab when we saw something in nature that had never been seen before. ... That's what I love about science. You go into the lab, do an experiment, and get a little bit of knowledge about the world that unravels another piece of the mystery of nature. I love that."
November 27, 2018
A new lab co-founded by molecular and cell biology professor Jennifer Doudna will explore genome surgery options for patients with rare genetic disorders. Using the CRISPR gene-editing technology she co-invented, she intends to find ways to edit out faulty genes, curing the diseases at the source -- in their genetic code. Professor Doudna has established a number of labs to explore various uses of the CRISPR technology, but often the pressure of turning a quick profit prohibits costly research that would benefit small populations. Since this would help people with rare diseases, she chose to house this lab at Gladstone, a nonprofit biomedical research center affiliated with UC San Francisco. "We're focused on what's going to be best for patients in the long run, not simply what product can we quickly bring to market. ... We need to step back and figure out how to ensure in the future that this technology is not something only available to the 0.1 percent." For more on this, see our story at the Berkeley College of Chemistry.
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