Scott Collins CSO

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Agriculture
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Agriculture
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Raleigh, NC
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Hoofprint Biome is developing probiotics that improve cattle health and digestive efficiency while eliminating methane production
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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
01 What is your favorite word and why?
Microbial biogeochemistry: Microbes that eat rocks. It’s rad.
02 What did you want to be when you grew up?
A dinosaur.
03 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.