Virginie Courtier-Orgogozo, a former student at the École normale supérieure and agrégée in life and earth sciences, is a research director at the CNRS, head of a research team at theInstitut Jacques Monod in Paris, lecturer at the École polytechnique, CNRS bronze medal, Irène-Joliot-Curie prize for " Young woman scientist " in 2014.

She is interested in the mechanisms involved in the evolution of species, in order to better understand our origins and the future of living species. In particular, she studies the evolution of bioadhesives produced by Drosophila flies to stick to various substrates during metamorphosis. Together with Arnaud Martin www.gephebase.org,she has created a database of genes and mutations that have so far been identified by the international scientific community as being responsible for natural morphological, physiological or behavioral differences in plants and animals. This compilation has revealed that evolution often passes through a limited number of genetic pathways, indicating that evolution is partly predictable.

Virginie Courtier-Orgogozo has a fertile activity in the field of philosophy, notably concerning the concept of gene, development, identity and chance. She has also written several articles on the risks associated with the new biotechnology of genetic forcing.