Courtesy of Jennifer Doudna
Jennifer Doudna, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley, is Co-Director of IGI.
While the list of past speakers for the New Albany Community Foundation’s Remarkable Evening certainly boasts a number of impressive names, Jennifer Doudna will be the event’s first Nobel Prize winner.
Remarkable Evening’s past speakers have included presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Pulitzer Prize winners, and more. Though Doudna’s name may not be as recognizable as some of those speakers, her contributions to science as a biochemist have been hailed as revolutionary.
“Her work was really breakthrough work that will help lead to advances in areas like curing diseases,” says Craig Mohre, president of the New Albany Community Foundation. “While she might not be a household name, the story is compelling.”
Doudna, alongside Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing.”
The method, known as CRISPR, allows for the rewriting of DNA in living organisms. This has the potential to open wild new possibilities in the worlds of medicine, agriculture, pest control and more. CRISPR may have applications in preventing genetic diseases and mutations such as cancer.
The vast possibilities, including editing of human gene inheritance, have also made CRISPR a point of intense debate about the moral repercussions. Doudna has been a leading voice in that conversation.
Keegan Houser
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Doudna has advocated for CRIS- PR’s potential to fight COVID-19. With the Innovative Genomics Institute, she helped to set up a rapid testing center and has rerouted research efforts toward the pandemic.
The foundation extended another invite for the 2021 event: Author, journalist and professor Walter Isaacson, the 2020 speaker, will return to interview Doudna. Isaacson’s book, The Code Breaker, details Doudna’s work and discoveries. Isaacson’s works include biographies on other luminaries such as Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein.
Remarkable Evening is hosted each year by Abigail and Leslie Wexner at their New Albany home. The event serves as a benefit for the foundation, raising money to be invested back into the community. Over the years, Mohre says the foundation has raised around $40 million. Just this year it surpassed $18 million in grants, all of which support the four pillars of New Albany: lifelong learn- ing, arts and culture, health and wellness, and environmental sustainability.
“We have a lot of wonderful support from the community,” Mohre says. “It’s a big part of the foundation, being able to have an impact on the community.”
The New Albany Community Foundation’s Remarkable Evening takes place Dec. 2. More information on the event can be found at www.newalbanyfoundation.org.
Courtesy of Jennifer Doudna
Emily Lutz is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@ cityscenemediagroup.com
