Two women win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 100% female, went to Emmauelle Charpentier, from the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and Jennifer Doudna, from the University of California, Berkeley, for the possibility of rewriting the code of life from the development of a method of genetic editing. The researchers developed the Crispr / Cas9 method (pronounced "crísper") for editing the genome, a genetic scissors, created just 8 years ago, and is already helping in the search for the cure of genetic diseases and cancer. With the technique, it is possible to accurately edit the DNA of microorganisms, plants and animals.

"I hope it is a positive message for young girls who wanted to follow the path of science. Women in science can have an impact with the research they work on," says Charpentier. "But not just for women. We see a lack of interest in following that path, which is worrying."

The discovery came about thanks to the study of the immune system present in ancestral bacteria and microorganisms. Like humans, bacteria can also be infected by viruses, and when they do, they "keep" a piece of the invader's DNA. This region with small pieces of memory DNA is called Crispr (acronym for "short palindromic repetitions grouped and regularly interspersed").

Charpentier discovered an RNA molecule, called tracrRNA, in these ancient bacteria. The researcher observed that this structure bound to RNA Crispr (transcription of DNA Crispr, from memory of infections) and, together with two proteins from the bacterium, Cas9 and RNase III, it would cut RNA Crispr into smaller pieces.

The Max Planck and Doudna researcher then found that the Crispr structure and the Cas9 protein scanned the bacterium for viral DNA that would "match" the memory of past infections. When this happened, the molecular scissors formed by Crispr and Cas9 would remove the virus. The announcement of the laureates took place this Wednesday morning (7), at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, Sweden.

The 2020 Nobel prize, of 10 million Swedish kronor - equivalent to just over R $ 6 million reais -, will be shared equally by the researchers. The current award received an increase of 1 million over the previous year. Until 2011, the prize pool was 10 million, but that year it was reduced to SEK 8 million. The money comes from a fund currently with 4.6 billion SEK, left by Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). In addition to the value, the winners receive a medal with the Nobel face and a diploma.

Nobel's will states that the area's laurel is for those who made the most important chemical discoveries or improvements.

The nomination for the award begins with the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, which sends confidential files to qualified researchers - members of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, previous laureates in the fields of physics and chemistry - making nominations. Self-referrals cannot be made. From the names indicated, the academy selects the laureates. The award decision-making meeting happens almost normally this year, despite the pandemic. The only difference is that, to avoid possible contamination by the new coronavirus, it was divided into smaller parallel encounters, from which the choice of the laureate is made.

In addition, the laureates in 2020 will not go to Stockholm to receive the award, which will likely be sent to the winners' countries.

Chemistry was the most important science in the work of Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. He was also responsible for the development of synthetic rubber and leather. Nobel has registered 355 patents in 63 years of life.

At this year's Nobel Prize, the medical award went to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Harvey Alter, from the National Institutes of Health of the USA (NIH), Michael Houghton, from the University of Alberta, and Charles Rice, from Rockefeller University, were awarded .

The physics award went to researchers Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, who improved human understanding of black holes.