MIT senior Katie Spivakovsky has been chosen as a 2026-27 Churchill Scholar and can undertake an MPhil in organic sciences on the Wellcome Sanger Institute at Cambridge College within the U.Ok. this fall.
Spivakovsky, who’s double-majoring in organic engineering and synthetic intelligence, with minors in arithmetic and biology, goals to combine computation and bioengineering in an instructional analysis profession targeted on creating strong, scalable options that promote equitable well being outcomes.
At MIT’s Bathe BioNanoLab, Spivakovsky investigates therapeutic purposes of DNA origami, DNA-scaffolded nanoparticles for gene and mRNA supply, and co-authored a manuscript in press at Science. She leads the event of an immune remedy for most cancers cachexia with a crew supported by MIT’s BioMakerSpace; this work earned a silver medal on the worldwide artificial biology competitors iGEM and was revealed within the MIT Undergraduate Analysis Journal. Beforehand, she labored on Merck’s Modeling & Informatics crew, characterizing a cancer-associated protein mutation, and on the New York Structural Biology Heart, the place she improved cryogenic electron microscopy particle detection fashions.
On campus, Spivakovsky serves as director of the Undergraduate Initiative within the MIT Biotech Group. She is deeply dedicated to educating and mentoring, and has served as a lecturer and co-director for class 6.S095 (Likelihood Downside Fixing), a educating assistant for courses 20.309 (Bioinstrumentation) and 20.A06 (Fingers-on Making in Organic Engineering), a lab assistant for 6.300 (Sign Processing), and as an affiliate advisor.
“Katie is an excellent researcher who has a eager mental curiosity that may make her a pacesetter in organic engineering sooner or later. We’re proud that she might be representing MIT at Cambridge College,” says Kim Benard, affiliate dean of distinguished fellowships.
The Churchill Scholarship is a extremely aggressive fellowship that yearly presents 16 American college students the chance to pursue a funded graduate diploma in science, arithmetic, or engineering at Churchill Faculty inside Cambridge College. The scholarship, established in 1963, honors former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s imaginative and prescient for U.S.-U.Ok. scientific trade. Since 2017, two Kanders Churchill Scholarships have additionally been awarded annually for research in science coverage.
MIT college students taken with studying extra concerning the Churchill Scholarship ought to contact Kim Benard in MIT Profession Advising and Skilled Growth.
