The Code Breaker

Using Walter Isaacson's new book, The Code Breaker, as the core book, this SDG will explore the world of the gene, DNA, RNA, mutations, and the gene-editing technology, CRISPR. Jennifer Doudna, the co-creator of CRISPR technology, for which she and her collaborator, Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, are the only sixth and seventh women to be so honored. These remarkable scientists asked "how do bacteria protect themselves from viruses (bacteriophage)" and discovered the molecular mechanism for identifying how viruses attach to the bacterial outer cell wall, and how bacteria destroy these viruses - - - a remarkable example of an immune-like system in microbes and the birth of CRISPR technology from microbes to Plato members!