Academia Europaea Member, Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Receives Honorary Doctorate from Wrocław University of Science and Technology
Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier – member of Academia Europaea and 2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, has been awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by Wrocław University of Science and Technology. The conferral ceremony took place on October 1, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in the Assembly Hall of the Main Building (Building A-1) during the official opening of the 2026/2027 academic year.
Wrocław University of Science and Technology conferred an honorary doctorate upon renowned French scientist and 2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier, during the solemn inauguration of the new academic year. The distinction recognizes her extraordinary contributions to global biochemistry and genetics – specifically her foundational work on bacterial RNA regulation that enabled the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, as well as her close collaboration with the Wrocław Tech scientific community. Prof. Krystyna Dąbrowska from the Faculty of Medicine served as the supervisor for the honorary doctorate.
During the ceremony, Prof. Charpentier stated:
“It is a great honor for me to receive this distinction during the official opening of the new academic year at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. Wrocław is known for its history; it is a city of meetings and culture. It is also the finest illustration of how knowledge, education, and science build society and ensure a better future for it. Thank you very much, and I wish good luck to the students, especially those starting their university journey today”.
Following the presentation of the degree, she gave a lecture titled “From curiosity to CRISPR: lessons from a scientific journey,” outlining the history of her research.
A Groundbreaking Career in Life Sciences
Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier is a French microbiologist, geneticist, and biochemist who received her education in Paris. Throughout her distinguished career, she has held academic research positions across top scientific institutions in Paris, New York, Memphis, Vienna, Umeå, Braunschweig, and Berlin.
Her research has focused primarily on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of infectious diseases, with a specific focus on Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria, staphylococci, and streptococci. Professor Charpentier is world-renowned for her groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 adaptive immune system in Streptococcus pyogenes and other bacterial species. This research laid the foundation for the development of a versatile and precise genome editing technology. The CRISPR-Cas technology has revolutionized research across the life sciences, creating unprecedented opportunities in biotechnology and biomedical gene therapies.
For her seminal discoveries, Professor Charpentier was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She is an elected member of prestigious national and international scientific academies, including Academia Europaea (MAE). Beyond fundamental research, she is a co-inventor of core CRISPR-Cas9 intellectual property and co-founder of biotechnology companies CRISPR Therapeutics and ERS Genomics.
Credit: Wrocław University of Science and Technology
