Scott Collins
Chief Scientific Officer, Hoofprint Biome
Scott Collins joins Breakthrough Energy’s Innovator Fellows program from Hoofprint Biome in Raleigh, North Carolina. He grew up with animal agriculture as the son of a large animal veterinarian, before engrossing himself in bioengineering, creating new technologies for biomanufacturing, gene editing, and probiotic therapies. Scott leads development of Hoofprint’s anti-methane probiotics.
Cattle farming is responsible for nearly one-third of global methane emissions – a greenhouse gas that’s both potent and fast-acting. Hoofprint Biome is developing a probiotic to release enzymes that inhibit methane producing bacteria. This has the potential to dramatically reduce livestock greenhouse gas emissions while also improving animal health and productivity. Feeding cows just a mouthful of Hoofprint’s probiotic yeast can increase farm profitability while making cattle farming a part of the climate solution.
Scott is returning to his roots, leveraging biotechnology to make cattle farming clean, sustainable, and profitable. He earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Washington and a Doctor of Philosophy in chemical and biomolecular engineering from North Carolina State University.
Q&A
What is your favorite word and why?
Microbial biogeochemistry: Microbes that eat rocks. It’s rad.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A dinosaur.
What beliefs drive you?
Our culture and society can become an integral part of healthy ecosystems, including the farms and animals that feed the world.
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