Stockholm (AFP)

Sequencing and cutting of genes, nanocrystals, innovative chemical reaction ... Last of the three Nobel scientists to be awarded this week, the chemistry prize is awarded on Wednesday, after the medicine which went to the discoverers of hepatitis C and physics to the mysteries of "black holes".

The prestigious award is due from 11:45 am (09:45 GMT) in Stockholm.

A major biomedical discovery, often cited also for a price of medicine, could be rewarded: the "Crispr scissors", making it possible to cut a precise gene, developed in particular by the French Emmanuelle Charpentier and the American Jennifer Doudna.

The mechanism is easy to use, inexpensive, and allows scientists to cut DNA exactly where they want it, for example to create or correct a genetic mutation and treat rare diseases.

If the breakthrough is undisputed, the discovery is recent, and is still the subject of disputes over patents, which complicates the situation, according to experts.

Another pioneer in genetics, the American Leroy Hood, could be credited for his work on genome sequencing, according to Swedish radio SR.

According to the specialized institute Clarivate, which every year forecasts possible winners, the Nobel Prize in chemistry could also go to the American duo Stephen Buchwald and John Hartwig for "their contributions to organometallic chemistry" and in particular a reaction which now bears their two names.

The nanocrystals, also called "quantum dots" and studied by South Korean Taeghwan Hyeon, American-Tunisian Moungi Bawendi and Canadian Christopher Murray could also be celebrated.

As well as the work of the Americans Harry Gray, Richard Holm and Stephen Lippard on the role of metal ions in biology.

- Five award-winning women -

The 2019 chemistry prize was awarded to a trio: the American John Goodenough - crowned at 97, a record - the Briton Stanley Whittingham and the Japanese Akira Yoshino, for the invention of lithium-ion batteries, today present in many everyday technologies.

Only five women have won the Nobel in chemistry since 1901, out of 183 men: Marie Curie (1911), her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie (1935), Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1964), Ada Yonath (2009) and Frances Arnold (2018) .

Medicine opened the 2020 Nobel Balls on Monday with the coronation of Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, alongside Briton Michael Houghton, for their role in the discovery of the virus responsible for hepatitis C.

The physics prize on Tuesday crowned the Briton Roger Penrose, the German Reinhard Genzel and the American Andrea Ghez, three pioneers of space research on "black holes".

The literature prize, the most anticipated event for the general public with peace on Friday in Oslo, will be announced Thursday by the Swedish Academy.

Critics interviewed by AFP mentioned about fifteen nobelisables, with profiles ranging from the American-Caribbean Jamaica Kincaid to the Albanian Ismaïl Kadaré via the Canadian Anne Carson or the French Michel Houellebecq.

As for peace, the prize is particularly open this year, but experts lean more for press freedom or Greta Thunberg and young people committed to the climate.

The more recently created savings prize will close the season on Monday.

© 2020 AFP