Charpentier receives the degree for her work in genetics and molecular biology. She is the director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens and a professor at Humboldt University in Berlin.?
She obtained her Ph.D. in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1995 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York. Her curiosity-driven research on streptococcus' immune system against viruses in the 2000s led to the discovery of CRISPR/Cas9 – a technology of profound applied value.?
One of Charpentier's most important contributions, alongside Jennifer A. Doudna, is the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system into a tool for accurate genome editing, which ?gave them ?the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. The Nobel Committee wrote that Charpentier and Doudna " have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors" - a technology that is used to impart new traits to plants and animals and for gene therapy of inherited diseases.
?
UiO's honorary doctoral degrees
Honorary doctoral degrees of UiO (Doctor Honoris Causa) are given to prominent academics. The degrees are awarded without a thesis defence/disputation.
UiO has been entitled to appoint honorary doctorates since 1824, and appointments usually occur every three years.
The honorary doctors are conferred at UiO's Annual Celebration on 2 September.