A beautiful Nobel that should not be repeated

Posted on October 3, 2023 by Anna Meldolesi

Drew Weissman will forgive us, but this will go down in history mostly as Katalin Karikó’s Nobel Prize. And perhaps in addition to being an award to celebrate, it is also an award that should make us angry. Because this scientist’s story is too extraordinary, for all the obstacles she had to face and overcome. It is always said that girls need model female scientists to inspire them, Karikó is a beautiful role model but we sincerely hope that she does not have to be an example to anyone, because it is not fair that a researcher of this stature was forced into precariousness for decades and could not count on a stable professorship in the United States where she moved from Hungary in the 1980s (at the University of Pennsylvania she results “adjunct professor”).

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CRISPR microbes for climate and health

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Anna Meldolesi

Jennifer Doudna’s Innovative Genomic Institute has received $70 million to explore a bold idea: combating climate change and other emergencies by modifying the microbial communities that live outside and inside us.

Bacteria are the true masters of the planet, for better or worse. Besides affecting our health in many ways, they are responsible for much of the methane emissions. This gas traps heat far more than carbon dioxide and is produced in large quantities by microbes that proliferate in environments associated with human activities (farms, landfills, rice paddies). The good news is that methane is short-lived, so reducing its emissions would have a rapid and substantial effect on global warming. What tools do we have at our disposal to try to pursue such an ambitious goal?

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A decade of CRISPR is only the beginning

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Anna Meldolesi

CRISPR past, present, and future according to the review by Jennifer Doudna and Joy Y. Wang just published in Science. This is the original caption: “The past decade of CRISPR technology has focused on building the platforms for generating gene knockouts, creating knockout mice and other animal models, genetic screening, and multiplexed editing. CRISPR’s applications in medicine and agriculture are already beginning and will serve as the focus for the next decade as society’s demands drive further innovation in CRISPR technology.”

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Festive feelings from CRISPeR Frenzy!

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Anna Meldolesi

Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna visiting the art work un|fold (Nobel Week Lights 2022, Stockholm). The sound and light sculpture is inspired by their research on genome editing.

Finally in Stockholm!

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Anna Meldolesi

CRISPR inventors Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020, a pandemic year, so they had to wait until today, 10 December 2022, to experience the Nobel ceremony. Watch the video!

Ode to Darwin, from Phages to Borgs

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Anna Meldolesi

Phages first, Borgs then. Jennifer Doudna and Jill Banfield published surprising new findings in Cell, suggesting that thousands of phages have stolen CRISPR from bacteria to deploy it against rivals. “CRISPR is so popular even viruses may use it,” Science jokes. Nature puts it seriously “CRISPR tools found in thousands of viruses could boost gene editing.”

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Nobel portraits, mind & hand

Posted on November 15, 2022 by Anna Meldolesi

CRISPR inventors Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, portrayed by Herlinde Koelbl for the book Fascination of Science, which the photographer (famous for her work on Angela Merkel) dedicated to leading scientists. The photos, currently on display at the Koch Institute, capture “the connection between the personal & the pursuit of knowledge—between mind & hand—of pioneering scientists across the globe.”

Gender equity meets CRISPR

Posted on August 31, 2022 by Anna Meldolesi

Navneet Matharu, Jenny Hamilton and Lin Du

The Women in Enterprising Science Program (WIES) is located on the UC Berkeley campus and is supported by the foundation of Solina Chau Hoi Shuen (co-founder of Horizons Ventures in Hong Kong). The initiative, aiming to enhance gender equity in bio-entrepreneurship, was presented last March by IGI, the institute founded by Jennifer Doudna. In the pictures above you can see the inaugural cohort of fellows, announced this month.

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CRISPR WOMEN – faces and feats

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Anna Meldolesi

They may have lost the latest round in the patent dispute, but Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier will be forever celebrated as the inventors of CRISPR.
In “The Code Breaker” by Walter Isaacson, Doudna tells how a school’s guidance counselor tried to discourage her from studying chemistry at college: “Girls don’t do science.”
The Nobel prize came a few decades and many brilliant experiments later, it’s the first shared by two women. The institute founded by Doudna (IGI) is now launching an ad hoc incubator specifically to enhance gender equity in bio-entrepreneurship. Jennifer and Emmanuelle are unquestionably great role models for girls interested in science and started a wave of discoveries and inventions by female scientists.
In the slideshow below, you can meet some of the brightest women in CRISPR.