Wednesday morning with Jennifer Doudna!
CRISPR, gardening, and the magic of curiosity-driven research š§¬
Welcome to a very special Wonder Woman Wednesday!
This week I sat down with Dr. Jennifer Doudna,
American biochemist, Nobel Prize Laureate, co-discoverer of CRISPR gene editing technology, Founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute, Mammoth Biosciences, and Intellia Therapeutics, one of TIME magazineās top ā100 Most Influentialā People in 2015 and Pomona College Class of ā85 alum (chirp chirp! š¤)
Thank god Dr. Doudna didnāt switch her major to French like she wanted to in her sophomore year at Pomona!
Jennifer Doudna is, without a doubt, one of Pomonaās most impactful and impressive alumni.
Naturally, I couldnāt wait to ask her some of the burning questions on my mind from her favorite times at Pomona to her hobbies outside of changing the world to the future of CRISPR gene editing tech!
Before diving into the interview, check out the following links to learn more about CRISPR tech and Dr. Doudnaās consequent companies:
This video on CRISPR gene editing tech
This video on Mammouth Biosciences
This video on the Innovative Genomics Institute
This article on Intellia Therapeutics
Without further ado, letās hear from Dr. Doudna herself:
What has been your most valuable learning as a powerhouse female biochemist and entrepreneur thus far? šŖ
In my experience, women are more likely than men to doubt their own abilities ā as a student, as a scientist, as an entrepreneur, as a leader.
Never doubt that you have every right to participate and compete. Your ideas matter!!
Best leadership advice for the next generation of inspiring female scientists and founders? š§Ŗ
Build a community ā and a diverse one.
Surround yourself with people that support each other, complement your strengths, and come to the table with different life experiences than your own.
I see this in my lab at the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley every day!
Science is often about overcoming challenges and inventing new ways to get past a specific obstacle.
The fastest way to generate innovative ideas is to have a group of people that approach a problem from different angles!
The most influential experience(s) at Pomona that have shaped who you are today? š«
Pomona was a huge influence on my life.
The liberal arts education exposed me to a wide variety of ideas I might never have encountered otherwise!
I even briefly considered switching to study French. But I also had some tremendous early mentors who really nurtured my love of science and encouraged me to keep going.
You said in the DPM Dr. Stanley Ho Memorial Lecture that discovering CRISPR was an interesting example of the āserendipity of small scienceā. Can you speak more on this theme? š¬
When I started working on CRISPR, I wasnāt setting out to develop a tool for genome editing, I was simply trying to learn how a type of bacterial immune system worked.
It was curiosity-driven research that led to serendipitous discovery that we could harness the system we were studying and apply it to real-world problems.
Thereās a constant debate over what is more important, or what deserves more funding: basic research or applied research.
This isnāt a choice. Curiosity-driven research opens up new avenues for applied research. You cannot have one without the other.
Favorite thing to do in your free time?
I love to garden! If I had more free time, I would spend much more time in my garden š¼
I also love spending time with my family and exploring the trails in Berkeley Hills.
What do you think is the most exciting application of CRISPR technology in the future? š¦
I think a lot about people living with rare diseases.
Some genetic diseases are so rare that they just affect one person, but roughly 25 million Americans have a rare disease, so rare disease as a whole is actually quite common.
We still have work to do to figure out how to make developing therapeutics for rare diseases financially viable, but CRISPR genome editing gives us a tool to make it possible and to develop personalized therapies rapidly!