“CRISPR can be used to treat cancer and other genetic diseases”

On the occasion of receiving the 9th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine, microbiologist and biochemist Emmanuelle Charpentier explains how she discovered a key component of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, a natural bacterial defense mechanism that today enables highly precise gene editing. She highlights its potential to create disease models, identify new therapeutic targets, and treat cancer and genetic disorders, while stressing the need for regulations that ensure a responsible use of this technology.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biology and Biomedicine category has been granted in its ninth edition to Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna and Francisco Martínez Mojica, for creating the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing techniques that have triggered a revolution in biology, equipping laboratories with a powerful tool to understand gene function and biological systems, and as a way to treat disease.