MCB Professor Nicholas Bellono has been named a 2026 Schmidt Sciences Polymath, receiving up to $2.5 million over five years to pursue an ambitious new research direction exploring the molecular basis of symbiosis.
Bellono is one of eight researchers selected for the sixth cohort of the Schmidt Sciences Polymath Program, which is committing up to $20 million to support scientists pursuing high-risk, high-reward research with the potential to open new areas of scientific discovery.
The Polymath Program provides each recipient with up to $2.5 million over five years to pursue interdisciplinary ideas that may be difficult to support through traditional funding mechanisms. The new cohort joins a global network of 35 researchers across 31 universities.
Bellono’s research explores how animals sense and respond to their environments, often using unusual organisms to uncover fundamental principles of sensory biology. His lab combines approaches from physiology, neuroscience, cell biology, molecular biology, and behavior to understand the remarkable adaptations that allow animals to navigate and interact with their worlds.
“The Schmidt Polymath Award will support a new direction in our lab focused on uncovering the molecular basis of symbiosis,” Bellono said. “Our goal is to discover the molecules and receptors that unite distinct kingdoms of life. This work will take us into new biological territory, including plants, fungi, and previously unexplored animal species. It is the product of tremendous intellectual courage and brute-force hard work by several talented people in the lab, and I believe it will lead to some of the most important and exciting work we do.”
Bellono credited MCB Scientific Director Polina Kehayova for helping make the opportunity possible.
“I’d like to thank Polina Kehayova for nominating me for this award at a time when traditional funding sources have become increasingly uncertain,” Bellono said. “Polina is essential to our community, and efforts like this from our departmental administration are what make it possible for us to do the science we do.”
Founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Sciences supports unconventional and interdisciplinary approaches to scientific and technological challenges. Its Polymath Program is designed to give established researchers the freedom and resources to pursue new ideas outside the boundaries of their existing research programs.
