Jennifer A. Doudna

About

Jennifer A. Doudna is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, holding the Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences. She is a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, recognized for her pioneering work in the discovery of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing technology. Her research focuses on advancing society through education and research in the fields of chemical biology, molecular and cell biology, and biomedical sciences. Doudna's academic career includes post-doctoral work at the University of Colorado, followed by positions at Yale University, where she served as an assistant, associate, and full professor before joining UC Berkeley in 2002. She has been a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator since 1997 and has received numerous awards, including the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award in 2000, and membership in prestigious organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Her groundbreaking research has significantly contributed to the development and understanding of CRISPR technology, impacting the fields of genetics, molecular biology, and biomedical sciences.

Research topics

• Biology
• Computational biology
• Genetics
• Cell biology
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• CRISPR technology: A decade of genome editing is only the beginning

  Science · 2023-01-19 · 1006 citations

  reviewSenior authorCorresponding

  The advent of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) genome editing, coupled with advances in computing and imaging capabilities, has initiated a new era in which genetic diseases and individual disease susceptibilities are both predictable and actionable. Likewise, genes responsible for plant traits can be identified and altered quickly, transforming the pace of agricultural research and plant breeding. In this Review, we discuss the current state of CRISPR-mediated g…

  PublisherDOI

• Viral delivery of an RNA-guided genome editor for transgene-free germline editing in Arabidopsis

  Nature Plants · 2025-04-22 · 70 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Genome editing is transforming plant biology by enabling precise DNA modifications. However, delivery of editing systems into plants remains challenging, often requiring slow, genotype-specific methods such as tissue culture or transformation 1 . Plant viruses, which naturally infect and spread to most tissues, present a promising delivery system for editing reagents. However, many viruses have limited cargo capacities, restricting their ability to carry large CRISPR-Cas systems. Here w…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• An updated evolutionary classification of CRISPR–Cas systems including rare variants

  Nature Microbiology · 2025-11-06 · 44 citations

  reviewOpen access

  The known diversity of CRISPR-Cas systems continues to expand. To encompass new discoveries, here we present an updated evolutionary classification of CRISPR-Cas systems. The updated CRISPR-Cas classification includes 2 classes, 7 types and 46 subtypes, compared with the 6 types and 33 subtypes in our previous survey 5 years ago. In addition, a classification of the cyclic oligoadenylate-dependent signalling pathway in type III systems is presented. We also discuss recently characterized alterna…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• CRISPRi-ART enables functional genomics of diverse bacteriophages using RNA-binding dCas13d

  Nature Microbiology · 2025-02-26 · 22 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Bacteriophages constitute one of the largest reservoirs of genes of unknown function in the biosphere. Even in well-characterized phages, the functions of most genes remain unknown. Experimental approaches to study phage gene fitness and function at genome scale are lacking, partly because phages subvert many modern functional genomics tools. Here we leverage RNA-targeting dCas13d to selectively interfere with protein translation and to measure phage gene fitness at a transcriptome-wide scale. W…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Phage-based delivery of CRISPR-associated transposases for targeted bacterial editing

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2025-07-25 · 19 citations

  articleOpen access

  Phage λ, a well-characterized temperate phage, has been recently leveraged for bacterial genome editing by selectively delivering base editors into targeted bacterial species. We extend this concept by engineering phage λ to deliver CRISPR-guided transposases, accomplishing large insertions and targeted gene disruptions. To achieve this, we engineered phage λ using homologous recombination paired with Cas13a-based counterselection for precise phage modifications. Initially, we established the ut…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Jillian F. Banfield

  University of California, Berkeley

  331 shared

• Abdullah M. Syed

  Gladstone Institutes

  311 shared

• Alison Ciling

  University of California, Berkeley

  294 shared

• Eva Nogales

  Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  294 shared

• Mélanie Ott

  Gladstone Institutes

  284 shared

• Benjamin A. Adler

  Innovative Genomics Institute

  277 shared

• Gavin J. Knott

  Monash University

  260 shared

• Marena Trinidad

  Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  254 shared

Awards & honors

• Howard Hughes Medical Investigator (1997 to present)
• Packard Foundation Fellow Award (1996)
• NSF Alan T. Waterman Award (2000)
• Member, National Academy of Sciences (2002)
• Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003)

Similar researchers at University of California, Berkeley

• Peidong Yangh-262
• Jeffrey R. Longh-189
• John F. Hartwigh-180