Yining Zhu, a biomedical engineering and INBT PhD alum from Johns Hopkins University, has been selected as a 2026 Schmidt Science Fellow, a prestigious international postdoctoral fellowship awarded to a small group of early-career scientists. The fellowship recognizes researchers with exceptional achievement and the potential to drive interdisciplinary breakthroughs across fields.
While at Hopkins, Zhu’s research focused on advancing mRNA vaccine and immunotherapy technologies. With his mentor, Hai-Quan Mao, director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology and professor of materials science and engineering, they explored how lipid nanoparticle design can shape immune responses across the body, with recent efforts expanding into spatial proteomics and machine learning to better understand how aging influences vaccine effectiveness. This research aims to uncover new principles for designing next-generation, age-adaptive mRNA cancer vaccines that are more effective for older adults.
The Schmidt Science Fellows program was conceived and co-chaired by Eric Schmidt and James Manyika to support interdisciplinary science addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The 2026 cohort includes 32 early-career scientists from around the world selected for both their research achievements and their ability to work across disciplines. Fellows pursue postdoctoral research in new fields, applying fresh tools and perspectives to complex problems spanning health, energy, climate, and computing, with support from funding, mentorship, and a global scientific network.
Zhu is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University, where he continues this interdisciplinary work at the interface of biomaterials, immunology, and data science.
“Being named a Schmidt Science Fellow is a tremendous honor. It allows me to build on my training and develop more cross-disciplinary approaches to address the challenges in human health,” said Zhu.
This story originally appeared on the Institute for Nanobiotechnology.