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| Emmanuelle Charpentier: credit - Bianca Fioretti of Hallbauer & Fioretti; and Jennifer Doudna: credit - Duncan.Hull and The Royal Society. CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia |
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna discovered CRISPR about 10 years ago, sparking research into new treatments for cancer and other diseases, earning them the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The technology simplifies the editing of human DNA, allowing scientists to use an enzyme called Cas9 to “cut and paste” gene sequences.
This has been applied to experimental treatments for sickle cell anemia and certain cancers, but has also raised bioethical concerns, including its application in “designer babies.”
Rome-based journalist Courtney Mares offers some background to the Pontical Sciences Academy appointments, made under the auspices of the pope:
One of the current members, who are known as "ordinary academicians," is Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project and is the director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Past members included Stephen Hawking and scores of Nobel Prize-winning scientists, such as Guglielmo Marconi, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger.
Religious belief – Catholic or otherwise – is not a criterion for membership in the pontifical academy. This open membership policy exists because the Pontifical Academy is conceived as a place where science and faith can meet and discuss. It is not a confessional forum, but a place where it is possible to have an open discussion and examine scientific developments.
Mares' article also gives more detail on the ethical issues arising from the gene-editing capability, so it's worth a read.
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