Evolutionary biologist Bloom wins Sloan Foundation fellowship

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation recently awarded the Hutchinson Center's Dr. Jesse Bloom a $50,000 research fellowship.

Bloom, an evolutionary biologist with a dual appointment in the Basic Sciences Division and the Public Health Sciences Division's Herbold Computational Biology Program, researches the molecular evolution of proteins and viruses, particularly influenza. He uses influenza sequence histories to dissect evolutionary pathways, with a goal of applying the resulting insights towards predicting future viral evolution.

"Today's Sloan Research Fellows are tomorrow's Nobel Prize winners," said foundation president Dr. Paul Joskow. "These outstanding men and women are responsible for some of the most exciting science being done today."

Bloom and 125 other U.S. and Canadian researchers received foundation fellowships. Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honor early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders.

An independent panel of senior scholars selects fellowship candidates nominated by their peers. Basic Sciences Director Dr. Jonathan Cooper nominated Bloom.
 
[Adapted from a Sloan Foundation news release]