Dr. Jennifer Doudna
Science Advisory Board
Dr. Doudna is a biochemist and leading genomics researcher. She is currently the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s chair and a professor in the departments of chemistry and of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her co-discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 genetic engineering technology, in collaboration with French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier, has changed human and agricultural genomics research forever. This genome-editing technology enables scientists to change or remove genes quickly, with a precision only dreamed of just a few years ago. Labs worldwide have re-directed the course of their research programs to incorporate this new tool, creating a CRISPR revolution with huge implications across biology and medicine.
In addition to her scientific achievements and eminence, Dr. Doudna is also a leader in public discussion of the ethical and other implications of genome editing for human biology and societies, and advocates for thoughtful approaches to the development of policies around the use of CRISPR-Cas9. She has received many prizes for her discoveries including the Japan Prize (2016), the Kavli Prize (2018), the LUI Che Woo Welfare Betterment Prize (2019), and the Wolf Prize in Medicine (2020), and in 2015 was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Dr. Doudna was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Emmanuelle Charpentier for the discovery of CRISPR.
Dr. Doudna received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from Pomona College, and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard University. She has been on the Science Advisory Board of the Curci Foundation since 2014.