Northeastern graduate wins prestigious NIH Oxford-Cambridge doctoral scholarship
She’s mapped a mosquito’s brain; now she’s headed to Oxford
Northeastern graduate Laurel Walsh received an NIH Oxford-Cambridge doctoral scholarship. She will divide her time between the U.S. and U.K. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
For the next four years, recent Northeastern University graduate Laurel Walsh will divide her time between the United Kingdom and the United States as she pursues an accelerated doctorate in biomedical research under the prestigious NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program.
“It’s a scholarship and Ph.D. program wrapped into one,” said Walsh, who graduated from Northeastern in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a minor in art.
Walsh will work with a mentor at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, for two years and with another mentor during her two years at Oxford University, which is the institution that will grant the doctoral degree, under the terms of the scholarship program.
She said she plans to study the genomics involved in infectious disease monitoring and is particularly interested in translational genomics, which bridges the gap between the laboratory and clinical practices, such as diagnostics and treatments.
“It’s a very exciting time, especially in the wake of the (COVID 19) pandemic, to use really accurate, very systemic approaches to monitoring infectious diseases,” Walsh said.
Walsh is also excited about the independence the scholarship program grants to doctoral candidates.
The NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program follows the U.K. model, in which students conduct research and only take classes if they hold special appeal or their mentor advises it.
Working at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard since graduation, Walsh already has four years of full-time research on her resume. “At this point, I’m good at learning on my own,” she said.
At her current job at the Broad Institute’s Gerstner Center for Cancer Therapeutics, Walsh’s responsibilities include developing approaches to overcome current DNA sequencing limitations for more efficient and accurate diagnostics, said Viktor Adalsteinsson, director of the Gerstner Center and Walsh’s principal investigator.
“Laurel is an exceptionally bright and motivated researcher seeking to advance biomedicine,” Adalsteinsson said. “I am thrilled to learn she received this prestigious award,” he said, adding that he looks forward to the contributions Walsh will “undoubtedly make” in her research career.
Walsh’s co-ops at Northeastern included one at a neurobiology lab at Harvard Medical School, where she mapped connections in the brain tissue of an Aedes aegypti mosquito, a primary vector of diseases including chikungunya, yellow fever and dengue.
Editor’s Picks
“It’s such an insane thing to be able to say you’ve been able to see the inside of a mosquito’s brain on the level of individual synapses,” she said. “I’m really, really lucky to have (had) exposure to some really cool projects.”
In addition to lab tools, Walsh is also adept with a paintbrush, having been involved with a mural club during her time at Northeastern.
“What stood out about Laurel was her ability to move seamlessly between concept and execution,” said Sophia Ainslie, a teaching professor in Northeastern’s department of art and design who worked with Walsh on two projects, including a brilliantly colored tapestry-like mural in Ryder Hall to promote the band Deerhoof’s album, “Actually, You Can.”
“She approached design with clarity and intention and had the persistence and focus to carry ideas through to completion,” Ainslie said. She called Walsh a natural collaborator, saying she is “capable of guiding a group while remaining open and responsive to others.”
Walsh said she’s looking forward to starting the program this fall and already has been in contact with a research group at Oxford that states its mission as being to transform how infections are analyzed and treated to improve patient care, which is her area of interest.
“Everybody I’ve talked to there (has been) absolutely wonderful,” she said, adding that the research is “exactly what I’m hoping to do in genomic infectious disease monitoring.”
Walsh is one of 25 students who received admission out of 187 applicants for the Ph.D. program, according to Kristi Porter of the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program.
