Jennifer Doudna is an American biochemist best known for her discovery of a molecular tool known as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 for which she was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Quick Facts and Information on Jenifer Doudna
| Full Name / Real Name | Jennifer Anne Doudna |
| Birthday / Date of Birth | 19th February 1964 |
| Age | 56 |
| Birth Sign | Pisces |
| Born Country | USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Hometown | Washington D.C |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Parents | Mother: Dorothy Jane, Father: Martin Kirk Doudna |
| Profession | Biochemist |
| Education (High School / College / University) | Pomona College, University of Colorado Boulder, Harvard University |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Husband | Jamie Kate |
| Children (Son) | One |
| Social Media | Instagram, |
| Net Worth | $4 Million |
| Height in Feet | 6 feet 1 inch |
| Height in Meter | 1.85m |
Jennifer Doudna Bio: Parents, Family, Siblings
Born to immensely intellectual parents Dorothy Jane and Martin Kirk Doudna, Jennifer inherited the same cerebral traits. The gifted biochemist was born on 19th February 1964 in Washington D.C. However, she moved to Hilo, Hawaii at the age of seven. That because her father was offered a position in American literature at The University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Jenifer’s father received a PhD in English literature from the University of Michigan and her mother held two master’s degree. One in education and another in Asian history. Growing up in such academic family fostered a culture of intellect pursuit in Doudna. As of 2020, Jennifer Doudna stands at 56 years of age.
Regarding Jennifer’s siblings, we haven’t heard of anything. The scholar herself hasn’t spoke of her having siblings at all.
Jennifer Doudna Education:
Jennifer completed her high school education from Hilo High School. She graduated high school in 1981. Jennifer grew up in Hilo, fascinated about the beautiful islands and exotic flora and fauna available there. This made her curious about their anatomical and morphological formations. From a very small age, Jennifer was inclined to biological mechanisms.
Her father also liked reading books on science and filled their homes with many books on popular science. Later in high school she was intrigued by chemistry. So after completion of her high school studies, she decided to join Pomona College in Claremont, California to study Biochemistry.
Jennifer once questioned her ability to pursue science. She thought of switching her majors to French but her French teachers suggested her to stick to science. Continuing her studies in science, she started her scientific research in a professor’s lab. She then completed her bachelors in biochemistry in 1985. Jennifer then joined Harvard University for her doctoral degree. In the year 1989 she got her PhD in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. Then she started her research of molecular biology thoroughly.
Jennifer Doudna Career:
Jennifer has worked her way up in the field of science by discovering various groundbreaking techniques along with her colleagues. In 1994 she had joined Yale’s department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry as an assistant professor. There she carried her research on the structure of ribosomes.
After much of her research, she was then promoted to the position of Henry Ford II Professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry in 2000. The same year she got accepted as a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California.
Since then, Doudna has been established there at the University of California, Berkeley as a professor of Molecular and Cell Biology as well as Chemistry. She now is also an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Where she held her research fellowships at the very beginning. Not only that, Jennifer serves on the advisory panel of multiple companies like Inari, Synthego, and Caribou Biosciences. These are the companies that use CRISPR technology in unique ways.
Jennifer Doudna Nobel Prize/ Awards:
Jennifer has recently won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with her colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier. She got this Nobel Prize for her discovery in the CRISPR technique. CRISPR is a molecular tool by which the genome of living organisms can be altered. This groundbreaking tool has revolutionized fields of agriculture, medicine, and overall biology.
During her early research years, she worked to uncover the structure and biological function of ribosomes. It was the first step she took in this processing of discovering the CRISPR technique. Jennifer has spent half her life analyzing genes and learning gene editing.
Besides the substantial Nobel Prize, Jennifer also has won a lot of awards for her discoveries. Some of which are; Alan T. Waterman Award (2000), Breakthrough Prize in Life Science s(2015), Japan Prize(2017), and Wolf Prize in Medicine(2020). Altogether she has been awarded 33 awards throughout her life.
Jennifer Doudna Books:
The discoverer of the epic genome editing, Jennifer has also written a book on it. The name of the very book is A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution. As the name suggests, the book is about the discovery of CRISPR technology.
And the author describes the ability of the very technology to completely revolutionize the world in her book. The book is a complete repository of information on topics like Science, Technology, Biology, and Genetics. The book was published on June 13, 2017.
Jennifer Doudna Husband/ Married:
Jennifer is married to Jamie Kate who is also a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. They both met back in 2002 when Jennifer accepted to join a faculty position at the University of California.
Doudna and husband Jamie have both worked together on various projects. It is known that they married soon after their first meet.
Jennifer Doudna Children/ Son:
Following in the footpaths of her parents, Jennifer also has decided to give birth to an only child. She and her husband together have a son who she gave birth to in 2003.
Since Jennifer isn’t active on social media sites, we haven’t got to see photos of her son nor have we got to know in detail about him. But it is heard that alike his parents, Jennifer’s son also has an interest in Science, Mathematics, and Computers.
Jennifer Doudna Net Worth:
Jennifer lives a quality life with the enormous sum of money she earns but then she hasn’t disclosed the exact net worth to the public domain. The average salary of a biochemist is 93,280 per annum and it happens to be the same for a Biology University Professor. Jennifer has worked as a professor for a very long now. Also, her spectacular research discoveries and book published in 2017 also earned her money.
Recently she has won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry which also makes her the recipient of roughly $110,000. Keeping all this in mind, Jennifer Doudna’s net worth sure is impressive. And as of 2020, the net worth of Jennifer Doudna is estimated to be $4 million.
For all her contributions, Jennifer sure does deserve the net worth that she has accumulated thus far.
Jennifer Doudna Social Media:
Jennifer isn’t seen as much involved in social media. Maybe it is due to the busy life she lives due to her indulgence in research projects. She has an Instagram account but she hasn’t posted anything. Only yesterday ( 0ctober 7, 2022) she had been seen posting stories about her achievement of Nobel Prize.
Although Doudna is not officially available on twitter, there’s an account called @doudna_lab where she sometimes tweets. This account supposedly provides news from Jennifer’s lab and tweets are made by lab members.
