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Rachel Haurwitz

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Rachel Haurwitz
Haurwitz in 2019
Born
Rachel Elizabeth Haurwitz

(1985-05-20) May 20, 1985 (age 39)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
InstitutionsCaribou Biosciences
ThesisThe CRISPR endoribonuclease Csy4 utilizes unusual sequence- and structure-specific mechanisms to recognize and process crRNAs (2012)
Doctoral advisorJennifer Doudna

Rachel Elizabeth Haurwitz (born May 20, 1985) is an American biochemist and structural biologist. She is the co-founder, chief executive officer, and president of Caribou Biosciences, a genome editing company.

Early life and education

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Haurwitz was born on May 20, 1985.[citation needed] She grew up in Austin, Texas.[1] Her mother is an elementary school teacher and her father, an environmental journalist.[2]

Haurwitz began researching RNA during her undergraduate years.[3] She attended Harvard College where she earned an undergraduate degree. In 2007, she began doctoral studies at University of California, Berkeley. At the age of 21,[4] Haurwitz began working as a graduate student in Jennifer Doudna's laboratory, in 2008 where she completed her doctorate in molecular and cell biology.[5] Haurwitz originally intended on becoming an intellectual property lawyer for biotechnology patents but later chose to continue in science.[6]

Career

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In 2011, Haurwitz and Doudna co-founded Caribou Biosciences, a gene editing spinout-startup company.[7] Haurwitz is the company's CEO and president. She holds several patents for CRISPR-based technologies.[5] The firm was initially housed in the basement of the building that housed Doudna's laboratory. The company supports the commercialization[8] of CRISPR technology in healthcare and agriculture.[9] Its researchers explore issues in antimicrobial resistance, food scarcity, and vaccine shortages.[9] The company licensed Berkeley's CRISPR patent and deals with agricultural and pharmaceutical companies and research firms.[10] In 2018, Haurwitz announced that the firm was shifting focus on medicine and developing cancer therapies targeting microbes.[2]

Personal life

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She is a long-distance runner and is training for a marathon.[9] Haurwitz knits as a hobby.[6]

Recognition

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In 2021, Haurwitz was selected as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst. As part of the program, she attended the annual New Economy Forum held in Singapore, and the Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst Retreat that same year.[11]

Selected works

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Papers

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  • Haurwitz, Rachel E.; Jinek, Martin; Wiedenheft, Blake; Zhou, Kaihong; Doudna, Jennifer A. (September 10, 2010). "Sequence- and Structure-Specific RNA Processing by a CRISPR Endonuclease". Science. 329 (5997): 1355–1358. Bibcode:2010Sci...329.1355H. doi:10.1126/science.1192272. PMC 3133607. PMID 20829488.
  • Qi, Lei; Haurwitz, Rachel E; Shao, Wenjun; Doudna, Jennifer A; Arkin, Adam P (September 16, 2012). "RNA processing enables predictable programming of gene expression". Nature Biotechnology. 30 (10): 1002–1006. doi:10.1038/nbt.2355. PMID 22983090. S2CID 1333889.

References

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  1. ^ Kincaid, Ellie; Tindera, Michela (May 14, 2019). "Gene Hackers: The Young Biotech Entrepreneurs Looking To Make Billions By Editing Life Itself". Forbes.
  2. ^ a b Fosco, Molly (March 16, 2018). "This Scientist Turned CEO Wants to Gene-Edit a Way to Cure Cancer". OZY. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  3. ^ Herman, Elizabeth D. (June 22, 2016). "For biotech CEO Rachel Haurwitz, CRISPR is big business". STAT. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  4. ^ "The two faces of Rachel Haurwitz". MPNforum Magazine. April 9, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Buhr, Sarah (September 4, 2018). "These two CRISPR experts are coming to Disrupt SF 2018". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "40 Under 40". Fortune. September 22, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  7. ^ "Rachel Haurwitz". Forbes. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  8. ^ Leeming, Jack (April 5, 2018). "How researchers are ensuring that their work has an impact". Nature. 556 (7699): 139–141. Bibcode:2018Natur.556..139L. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-03925-8. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 29620739.
  9. ^ a b c "NOMINEE: Rachel Haurwitz". Newsweek. January 18, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  10. ^ Regalado, Antonio (2017). "One woman's ascent from lab rat to CEO of a CRISPR company". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  11. ^ "The Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst List". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
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