Virginijus Šikšnys

Virginijus Siksnys is a Lithuanian biochemist born January 26, 1956, a professor at Vilnius University and chief scientist at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology. He was among the first to demonstrate programmable DNA cleavage by the Cas9 protein, and his research focuses on bacterial antiviral defense mechanisms, particularly CRISPR-Cas systems and restriction endonucleases. He shared the 2018 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience with Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, and he also received the 2016 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize.