understanding the most diverse & abundant biological entity on the planet
Viruses which infect bacteria, called phages, have shaped evolution of all life on earth.
Learn more about my research below.
My story
Undergrad
Graduate School
ETH Zürich
I completed my undergraduate education at Quest University Canada, a small liberal arts school nestled between Vancouver and Whistler. I balanced rigorous academics with plenty of time outside climbing and skiing. My undergraduate thesis, the culmination of my BASc degree, focused on microbial resistance to antibiotics.
ETH Zürich
Graduate School
ETH Zürich
A central component of my undergraduate thesis was completing original research at the Laboratory of Food Microbiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. While there, I isolated phages with broad lytic activity against bacterial pathogens. The phage pictured above is one of the phages I isolated that summer!
Graduate School
Graduate School
I began graduate school in 2020 at the University of Montana in the Cellular, Molecular, and Microbial Biology PhD program. With my keen interest in bacteriophages, joining the Bacteriophage Pathobiology Lab was a no-brainer, and for the next 4 years I worked to illuminate the relationship between filamentous Inoviruses and bacterial pathogenicity.
During graduate school I purchased an old sewing machine off of craigslist, and quickly became obsessed with sewing. I learned how to sew my own clothes, started making patterns, and eventually created my brand; Meez Etc.
Extracarriculars
Extracarriculars
When not at the bench or the sewing machine, I am outside doing activities I love! In the summers I climb rocks as seem above, and in the winters ski! Year-round I run, do yoga, oil paint, and love to cook.
Amelia K. Schmidt's Photo Gallery: A Visual Story of My Life
