Two new Gates Scholars joined Christ’s College last month: Claire Bunn from the University of Georgia and Caleb Todd from the University of Auckland.
Gates Scholarships are offered each year to around 80 outstanding international students enabling them to study for an MPhil or PhD in any subject offered at the University of Cambridge.
At any one time there are around 225 Gates Scholars studying at the University from over 50 different countries.
The Gates Cambridge Scholarship programme was established in October 2000 with a donation of US$210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge, one of the largest single donations to a UK university.
There are now over 1700 Gates Scholar alumni spread across the world.
Claire works on lung development in the Rawlins Laboratory at the Gurdon Institute. Her PhD in Physiology, Development and Neuroscience will investigate how lung stem cells build the embryonic lung and maintain the adult lung throughout life.
This knowledge could eventually inform regenerative medicine or targeted therapeutics after lung injury.
Caleb’s research lies at the intersection of several scientific fields. The mid-infrared light emitted by substances precisely determine what those substances are composed of. However, mid-infrared light (light with longer wavelengths than we can see) is not easily detected using conventional instruments.
His PhD will research the development of sensitive, cheap and replicable mid-infrared detectors. One potential application of these devices would enable doctors to detect and identify low concentrations of pathogens. Better detection technologies could substantially improve health outcomes.
Visit the Gates Cambridge website.