2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna

Stockholm: French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for the development of a method for genome editing.

“Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors,” the Academy said in a statement.

The recipients were announced Wednesday in Stockholm by Goran Hansson, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The pair will share 10 million Swedish kronor (about $1.1 million, 950,000 euros). But the in-person ceremony has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and replaced with a televised ceremony showing the laureates receiving their awards in their home countries.