The Schmidt Science Fellows program was established in 2018 to identify the world’s best emerging scientists and equip them with the skills to become scientific and societal thought leaders, accelerating ground-breaking discoveries. The rigorous and highly-competitive selection process has a success rate of just under 10%. Candidates are expected to have a strong track record of scientific achievement from their PhD/DPhil studies, combined with a clear intellectual curiosity, a desire to drive future discoveries, and a commitment to making a lasting difference in the world.
For his DPhil in the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at Oxford University, Ashwin specialised in immunology, focusing on characterising particles released into the immunological synapse – a nano-scale gap between T-cells and antigen-presenting cells. Leveraging this expertise, he engineered cytotoxic T-cells to release synthetic extracellular particles that specifically target and kill cancer cells.