Bertie Ansell named as a 2023 Schmidt Science Fellow

We are pleased to announce that the Department of Biochemistry's Bertie Ansell has been named as a 2023 Schmidt Science Fellow. 

Bertie is one of 32 exceptional early career scientists will receive support to develop research projects and the leadership skills necessary to harness interdisciplinary science to tackle some of the world’s most intractable problems.

Schmidt Science Fellows is the inaugural program of Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt with a mission to find and connect talented people to solve our world’s hardest problems. The Program is delivered in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. 

The 2023 Schmidt Science Fellows

Commenting on the new Fellows, Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Futures and president of The Schmidt Family Foundation, said: “History provides powerful examples of what happens when scientists are given the freedom to ask big questions which can achieve real breakthroughs across disciplines. Schmidt Science Fellows are tackling climate destruction, discovering new drugs against disease, developing novel materials, using machine learning to understand the drivers of human health, and much more.  This new cohort will add to this legacy in applying scientific discovery to improve human health and opportunity, and preserve and restore essential planetary systems.”

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. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Bertie plans to pivot from structural biology to microbiology to study plant-fungal-bacterial symbioses via combined computational and imaging methods. Bertie hopes to abet the development of regenerative practices for planetary and human health.

Read more about the 2023 Schmidt Science Fellows at: https://schmidtsciencefellows.org/news/eric-and-wendy-schmidt-announce-2...