See How Rodolphe Barrangou Is Shaping the Future

“The ability to invent new things and have new ideas […], I’m convinced, is predicated upon the ability to navigate the unknown,” said National Inventors Hall of Fame^® Inductee Rodolphe Barrangou. “To have that, you have to have an adventurous, curious spirit in the first place.”

Barrangou is a molecular biologist who discovered that CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) sequences and associated proteins comprise an acquired immune system in bacteria. In collaboration with fellow Inductee Philippe Horvath, he applied his research to create better starter cultures for the dairy industry, improving the world’s food supply while laying the foundation for the field of gene editing.

An Appetite for Science

Born in 1975, Barrangou grew up in the suburbs of Paris. Discussing his childhood in an interview with the National Inventors Hall of Fame, he recalled, “I was always curious. I was curious about how the world works and how things function, and the mystery of the unknown. I [had] an appetite for science.”

When asked how he describes himself, Barrangou was quick to answer, “I am an adventurer. I like to go and blaze trails, and want to discover and invent new things.”

Barrangou’s lifelong curiosity led him to pursue a career in science. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the René Descartes University in 1996 and a master’s degree in biological engineering from Université de Technologie de Compiègne in 2000. He then earned both a master’s degree in food science and a doctorate in genomics from North Carolina State University in 2004, followed by his MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011.

An Innovative Journey

In the early 2000s, Barrangou was working at Danisco (an industrial biotechnology company later acquired by DuPont and then by International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.) when he and Horvath began researching the genetic foundations of starter cultures. These are beneficial bacteria used to produce fermented dairy foods.

In 2005, Barrangou and Horvath sequenced the DNA of viruses called bacteriophages, and while working to breed bacteria with natural resistance to these viruses, they identified similarities between viral DNA sequences and the spacer sequences in bacterial CRISPR regions.

The pair discovered that bacterial genomes evolve over time. They pick up sequences from bacteriophages to which they were exposed, and then use these spacers to recognize viruses that later invade their cells, providing immunity. Further research showed that bacterial CRISPR spacers created a permanent record of viruses against which the bacteria has mounted defenses, passing these genetic vaccination events along to subsequent generations. They also showed that by altering CRISPR sequences, scientists can provide, withdraw or switch resistance against phages. 

Barrangou and Horvath’s work was a catalyst for the exploration of CRISPR-Cas systems, leading to the development of the CRISPR toolkit for targeted DNA edits and forming the foundation for technology applied in areas including genome editing, plant breeding, and antibacterial and antimicrobial production.

“I knew it was going to change the world of CRISPR; I just didn't know how much,” Barrangou said. “That was a great scientific journey.”

DuPont began screening its commercial starter cultures in 2005 and launched products in 2011, selecting those with CRISPR sequences for increased virus resistance. Since then, hundreds of millions worldwide have enjoyed dairy foods with CRISPR enhancement.

“If you had one bite of yogurt, one bite of cheese, one nacho, one pizza, one cheeseburger, pretty much anywhere on planet Earth in the last decade, it’s guaranteed you've consumed a product that was fermented using a CRISPR-enhanced culture that came out of the DuPont lab,” Barrangou said. “Think about how many billions of people have been eating fermented product that they've enjoyed, that they've formulated in their own kitchen or even at a restaurant. They've been enjoying those products thanks to CRISPR technology.”

A Commitment to the Future

In 2013, Barrangou joined the faculty at North Carolina State University, where he researches CRISPR systems and their potential applications. His involvement in the CRISPR field also includes building the scientific community through co-organizing the first five international conferences, serving as the founding editor-in-chief of The CRISPR Journal and co-founding startups including Ancilia Biosciences, Intellia Therapeutics, Locus Biosciences, CRISPR Biotechnologies and TreeCo.

Currently, Barrangou is involved in applying CRISPR technology to forestry through breeding trees that are more sustainable and better at capturing carbon. “That kind of application has such ramifications that you could really change the world for the 8 billion people that are on planet Earth now, and as a matter of fact, the next 10 billion people that will be born in the foreseeable future,” he said.

Barrangou was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2023, and he supports the nonprofit’s mission to honor, inspire and challenge generations of creators, innovators and entrepreneurs. To encourage more children to follow their curiosity and maintain an adventurous spirit, Barrangou has visited the Hall of Fame’s Camp Invention^® program for grades K-6. Mentoring and motivating participants in this nationwide, hands-on STEM program is just one of the ways he continues to make a direct impact on the future of scientific exploration and innovation.

See More of the Story

To see more of Barrangou’s story, watch the new video created by the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This exclusive video takes you from the kitchen to the lab as Barrangou shares his unique insights.

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