Once a year, the Foreign Policy magazine publishes a list of the 100 most important intellectuals, the so-called 100 „Leading Global Thinkers“. Besides politicians, journalists and activists this list also includes scientists who have changed the world with their work. One of them is Prof Emmanuelle Charpentier, head of the Department “Regulation in Infection Biology” at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Alexander von Humboldt Professor at Hannover Medical School and Guest Professor at the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden.
Charpentier is a leading researcher in the field of RNA regulation and molecular infection biology. She is one of the discoverers of CRISPR-Cas9, an ancient defense mechanism in bacteria harnessed as a biotechnological tool, which can be used to edit genetic material. The research of Charpentier and her colleagues is revolutionizing research by its wide range of application across biology and medicine and paves the way to treat genetic diseases in the future and gives hope for curing many other diseases, such as AIDS.
Emmanuelle Charpentier moved from Sweden to Germany as an Humboldt Professor in 2013 and has since been working at the HZI and the Hannover Medical School. She has received various prizes for her research in recent years with the latest being the renowned Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
More information about the Foreign Policy Magazine and the list of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers can be found here.
