Crispr–Cas9 gene-editing inventors win chemistry Nobel prize

‘Many have been waiting for it,’ said Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede from the Nobel committee for chemistry about this year’s prize, which went – perhaps unexpectedly – to Jennifer Doudna from the University of California, Berkeley, US, and Emmanuelle Charpentier from the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Germany for developing Crispr–Cas9 genome editing. The gene editing system was discovered just eight years ago, and these genetic scissors can deactivate genes or introduce new ones in any kind of cell – animal, plant or microorganism.