During her PhD, Sandya investigated the process of unconscious pain in patients under general anesthesia by tracking autonomic nervous system responses using statistical modeling and machine learning. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Sandya worked with Professor Todd Coleman and Professor Sean Mackey at Stanford University to build an ambulatory physiological monitoring system for the autonomic … Continued
During their PhD, Bertie used computational methods to investigate the role of small-molecule ligands in Hedgehog signaling – a pathway crucial for regulating cell growth and repair in the body. They also developed computational tools for quantification of protein-lipid interactions and integration with experimental data. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Bertie will study plant-fungal-bacterial symbiosis … Continued
Alex is a mathematical biologist developing theoretical models in evolutionary dynamics to better understand clonal heterogeneity, cancer progression, and metastasis. During his PhD, Alex studied the biological processes by which cells evolve and acquire mutations as we age, with consequences ranging from heart disease to tumor formation. His work combined methods from mathematics, biology, medicine, … Continued
During his PhD, Manuel worked on understanding and predicting how bacteria can gather information from the environment to respond accordingly, allowing cells to survive in an ever-changing world. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Manuel pivoted into evolutionary biology working in the Petrov Lab at Stanford University. Manuel worked to tackle the problem of convergent evolution … Continued
Fernando is a nanoengineer who has developed microengines the size of a human cell. His research included designing, building, and powering tiny engines during his PhD at the University of California, San Diego. Fernando pivoted his research to the development of programmable materials to create autonomous biorobots. By integrating responsive synthetic materials into biologically inspired … Continued
Andrea develops synthetic molecules that can assemble into structures that resemble the behavior of natural proteins. She completed her PhD in Chemistry at Northwestern University where she designed and synthesized molecules that closely resemble proteins by mimicking the ability of a protein to adapt its structure and function in response to environmental changes, these synthetic … Continued
Peyton completed her PhD in biomedical informatics and as a Schmidt Science Fellow, she worked on applying machine learning techniques to experimental design. Scientists can now detect signs of cancer in blood samples through looking for pieces of mutated tumor DNA. Peyton worked to design primers that can detect tens of thousands of possible mutations … Continued
Xiwen undertook her PhD at the Sargent group at the University of Toronto, having moved to Canada from China. At Toronto, she explored luminescent nanoparticles, known as colloidal quantum dots, which have applications in converting light into renewable energy and developing efficient light sources. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Xiwen worked at Stanford University applying … Continued
Andreas is interested in helping to ameliorate global hunger by improving the prediction of crop yields in Africa, which are strongly affected by periods of drought or enhanced rainfall. He completed his PhD at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, where he worked with mathematicians to describe—at daily, weekly, and intraseasonal timescales—how different … Continued