2 Scientists Win Nobel Chemistry Prize for Gene-Editing Tool

Emmanuelle Charpentier (L) and Jennifer Doudna, both speaking at the National Academy of Sciences international summit on the safety and ethics of human gene editing, in Washington, on Dec. 1, 2015. Susan Walsh/AP Photo

STOCKHOLM—Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for developing a way of editing genes likened to “molecular scissors” that offer the promise of one day curing inherited diseases.

Working on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna came up with a method known as CRISPR-cas9 that can be used to change the DNA of animals, plants, and microorganisms with extremely high precision. It is the first time two women have won the chemistry Nobel together.