Two award-winning scientists. Nobel Prize official website screenshot
On October 7th local time, Golan Hansong, Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced that the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their "development of a genome editing method". The two winners will share a prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (about 7.6 million yuan).
According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, the two winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are women, and their research has created a revolutionary impact on life sciences. What is the study of
?
On October 7th local time, Golan Hansong, Permanent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said when announcing the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, "This year's award is about rewriting the code of life."
CRISPR/Cas9 " gene scissors " technology. Nobel Prize official Twitter screenshot
According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, 2020 Nobel Prize winners Emmanuel Carpentier and Jennifer Dudner have discovered one of the sharpest tools in genetic research, namely CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors".
Through this technology, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely precise precision, and have revolutionized the impact on life sciences, which can not only help researchers develop new cancer therapies, but also make the dream of curing hereditary diseases a reality.
So, what exactly is CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors"?
Beijing Institute of Technology Chief scientist of the Institute of Medical and Industrial Fusion Deng Yulin in an interview with a reporter from the Beijing News that CRISPR/Cas is an adaptive immune defense system formed by bacteria during the long-term evolution. This system can identify DNA fragments of the virus in natural form and destroy the invading virus through a special enzyme.
CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors" are a tool that helps researchers find and cut DNA fragments, allowing researchers to turn on or off genes, or even repair and replace them. How was this study discovered?
According to the official Nobel Prize website, if researchers want to understand how the internal organisms work, they need to correct the genes in the cells, but this is very time-consuming and difficult, and sometimes even an impossible task. However, with the CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors" technology, everything has become simple.
However, this technology was discovered by chance. When Carpentier conducted research on Streptococcus pyogenes, she discovered an unknown molecule tracrRNA. In subsequent studies, Carpentier demonstrated that tracrRNA is part of the CRISPR/Cas immune system, which can remove the virus's "weapons" by lyzing the virus's DNA.
Carpentier then published her research results in 2011. That same year, she began working with Dudner, another winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The two of them successfully recreated the gene scissors of bacteria in test tubes and simplified the molecular composition of the scissors to make it easier to use.
According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, although CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors" can recognize DNA in the virus in its natural form, the research of Carpentier and Dudner has proved that CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors" technology can be controlled and can even cut off any DNA molecule in a predetermined position.
Since Carpentier and Dodner discovered the genetic scissor technology in 2012, their use has surged. This tool has contributed to many important findings in basic research. Plant researchers are now able to grow crops that are resistant to mold, pests and drought. What are the applications of this study in daily life?
On October 6, local time, Kras Gustavson, chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee of Chemistry of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said, "CRISPR/Cas9'gene scissors' have tremendous power. It affects all of us, not only completely changing basic science, but also providing groundbreaking treatments for medical research."
Gustavsson stressed that "this tool provides an opportunity for humans, but we must use it very carefully".
Regarding the application of this technology in daily life, Deng Yulin said that the CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors" technology can be applied in multiple fields. First of all, in terms of disease treatment, this technology may make curing hereditary diseases a reality; secondly, it can promote the development of pharmaceuticals and apply them to biomedical testing; finally, through gene editing technology, we can also use cells as machines in our future lives, form a "cell factory" to produce any substance and materials we need.
But Deng Yulin also emphasized that there is some controversy in the CRISPR/Cas9 "genetic scissors" technology. If this technology is applied to the field of reproductive genetic modification, it must be very cautious, because the potential impact of this technology on future human development needs further observation. Who is the winner of
?
According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, Emmanuel Carpentier was born in 1968 and is currently the director of the Max Planck Institute of Pathogenics in Germany.
Emmanuel Carpentier. Nobel Prize official Twitter screenshot
Another winner, Jennifer Dudner, was born in 1964 and received his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1989. He is currently working at UC Berkeley .
Jennifer Dudner. Official Nobel Prize Twitter screenshot
After the award was announced, the Nobel Prize Committee specially contacted Carpentier. When asked about his feelings after learning about his award, Carpentier said, "I'm very excited." Since this is the first time that two female scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together, Carpentier stressed that "I hope the award I won will have a positive impact on young women who are studying science."
However, in the CRISPR/Cas9 "genetic scissors" technology award, it is regrettable that Chinese scientist Zhang Feng failed to win the award together.
According to the US weekly Science Daily, Chinese scientist Zhang Feng is the first person to apply CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors" technology to human cells. He not only won the US patent first, but is also regarded as one of the popular candidates for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Regarding the reason why Zhang Feng failed to win the award together, it is reported that although he has made great contributions to the application of CRISPR, most of the basic research work was jointly completed by two scientists, Carpentier and Dudner, so he is more qualified to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
35 years old
According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, the youngest winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is Frederick Yorio- Curie . In 1935, he and his wife Irena Yorio-curie won the award together, when he was only 35 years old.
97-year-old
As of now, the oldest Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry is John Goodinav, who was 97 years old when he won the award in 2019. Meanwhile, Goodinav is the oldest scientist of all Nobel Prize awards.
111 times
11 Since the first award in 901, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded 111 times. During the period, no Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded for 8 years.
184 visitors
1 From 901 to 2019, a total of 184 visitors won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Since British biochemist Frederick Sanger won twice in 1958 and 1980, the actual number of winners was 183.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry won the past five years
In 2019, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists, namely American scientist John Goodinoff, Stanley Whitingham and Japanese scientist Yoshino Akira , in recognition of their contributions in the field of lithium-ion battery research and development.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018 was awarded to American scientists Francis Arnold , George Smith and British scientist George Winter for their outstanding contributions in the fields of "directed evolution of enzymes" and "phage display technology of polypeptides and antibodies".
In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Jacques Dibosh, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for their development of cryoelectron microscopy technology.
2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to French scientist Pierre Sovic, American scientist Fraser Stoddat and Dutch scientist Bernard Fellinga. The reason for winning is "the design and synthesis of molecular machines."
In 2015, three scientists, Thomas Lindor, Paul Modric and Archiz Sanka, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "Research on Cell Mechanisms of DNA Repair".
Beijing News reporter Qian Yazhuo
Editor Chen Si
