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Rachel Haurwitz
Rachel Haurwitz
	Haurwitz in 2019
Born	Rachel Elizabeth Haurwitz; May 20, 1985 (age 39); Austin, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard College (B.A.); University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.);
	Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry
Institutions	Caribou Biosciences
Thesis	The CRISPR endoribonuclease Csy4 utilizes unusual sequence- and structure-specific mechanisms to recognize and process crRNAs (2012)
Doctoral advisor	Jennifer 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

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

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

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

Recognition

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

Papers

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.