INNOVATORS
Northwestern University
I l l i n o i s
Northwestern University's Luciano Marraffini and Erik Sontheimer surprised scientists with the information of DNA being the target molecule and not RNA. They also noted that this could be a very powerful tool if it could be transferred to non-bacterial systems.
University of Vienna
A u s t r i a
University of Vienna's Emmanuelle Charpentier discovered that besides crRNA, a second small RNA exists, which is called trans-activating CRISPR RNA (tracrRNA). They showed that this forms a duplex with crRNA and this duplex escorts Cas9 to its targets.
US National Center for Biotechnology Information
(NIH)
NIH's Eugene Koonin studied "clusters of orthologous groups of proteins by computational analysis and proposed a hypothetical scheme for CRISPR cascades as bacterial immune system based on inserts homologous to phage DNA in the natural spacer array" (CRISPR Timeline).
University of Wageningen
N e t h e r l a n d s
University of Wagenigen's John van der Oost experimented with E. coli spacer sequences and portrayed that they are transcribed into small RNAs (crRNAs) that help escort Cas proteins to the desired and targeted DNA.
University of Alicante
S p a i n
University of Alicante's Francisco Mojica was the first researcher to characterize CRISPR locus. Due to his report that CRISPR sequences match small parts from the genomes of bacteriophage, he hypothesized that CRISPR is an adaptive immune system.
French National Institute for Agricultural Research
(INRA)
INRA's Alexander Bolotin studied the bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus, which lacked some of the known cas genes and carried novel cas genes, one of which is Cas9. He also reported that the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), spacers that share a common sequence, is essential to recognize targets.
Vilnius University
L i t h u a n i a
Vilinius University's Virginijus Siksnys demonstrated that the CRISPR-Cas locus was able to provide plasmid resistance. One year later, Siksnys and his team proved that they could manipulate Cas9 and target a desired site, just by altering the sequence of crRNA.
University of California
B e r k e l e y
University of California's Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna discovered that crRNA and tracrRNA could be combined together in order to create a single, synthetic guide, making the system easier than it already is.
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
McGovern Institute for Brain Research's Feng Zhang successfully adapted the CRISPR-Cas9 system for genome editing in eukaryotic cells. "They also showed that the system could be programmed to target multiple genomic loci, and could drive homology-directed repair" (CRISPR Timeline).