Nandini Rastogi: A Teen Using CRISPR for Food Security

Nandini is 19, and she’s using cutting-edge gene editing to take on one of humanity’s greatest challenges: food security. Her work with CRISPR focuses on rice, making it more resilient to climate change, so farmers can continue to feed a growing world despite rising temperatures and unpredictable weather. She’s already been presenting her work on global stages, but what makes her stand out is her belief that science isn’t just about fancy breakthroughs. For her, it’s about something far more fundamental: feeding the future.Her journey, though, started in the most unexpected way. The very first time she set out to experiment, she walked into a mall, bought a bag of rice, and only later realised that polished rice can’t actually be grown. That small misstep was the first of many setbacks, but instead of giving up, Nandini embraced trial and error as part of her path. With limited resources and little guidance at first, she leaned on curiosity, resilience, and the courage to ask. She wrote countless cold emails- some unanswered, some opening the right doors- and slowly built her network of mentors, knowledge, and tools.Every failure became fuel, and every small success a stepping stone. What began with a simple bag of rice from a mall has now turned into pioneering work that holds the potential to help millions. Nandini’s story is proof that determination and a hunger to learn can turn even the humblest beginnings into world-changing science.