While CRISPR is an incredible technology with plenty of current exposure, the Nobel Prize in Medicine tends to move slowly; often discoveries that first debuted 20 years ago are only finally recognized. CRISPR will have its day in the Nobel sun, but unlikely in this decade.

The Nobel Prizes in science are generally awarded a few decades after the fact. That gives enough time for the impact of the work to become clear.

Very true. It took 8 years for Craig Mello and Andrew Fire to be awarded for RNAi (published 1998, awarded 2006 -- and that was considered fast). CRISPR as a gene engineering tool isn't even that old yet, so we've got a few years.

Counter example: yamanaka

The Nobel committee is probably waiting for a resolution to a patent conflict regarding who invented it first, before they give it to crispr, see http://www.nature.com/news/bitter-fight-over-crispr-patent-h...

Whenever Lior Pachter points his guns it's time to get out the popcorn....

https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/the-heroes-of-c...

Don't give up hope, yet. CRISPR could be awarded for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Ribozyme discovery was a Chemistry Nobel [1]. And, yes, Nobels take decades to come to fruition.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribozyme

I think we'll wait until a practical application sees adoption before handing out Nobels.