Hudson M. Wentzell
Undergraduate Student
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Toronto
25 Harbord St., Toronto, ON M5S 3G5
Email: hudson.wentzell@mail.utoronto.ca
Current Research
Detecting patterns of positive selection and investigating molecular evolutionary changes in vertebrate visual genes using computational methods of comparative sequence analysis
Education
- PhD, University of Toronto (starting Sep. 2025)
- Direct-entry PhD in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- HBSc, University of Toronto (Sep. 2021–Jun. 2025)
- Genome Biology major, Fundamental Genetics and its Applications major
Awards
- Corey A. Goldman Prize for Best Research Poster in EEB (Apr. 2025)
- NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s (Apr. 2025)
- University of Toronto FAST Doctoral Award (Feb. 2025)
- Human Biology Excellence Award (Dec. 2024)
- Trinity College 6T5 Scholarship (Nov. 2024)
- B. Arthur Bensley Scholarship in Life Sciences (Nov. 2024)
- RISE Germany Research Internship (May 2024)
- Human Biology Excellence Award (Feb. 2024)
- Trinity College 6T5 Scholarship (Nov. 2023)
- F. M. Hill Scholarship in Biology (Oct. 2023)
- Trinity College 6T3 Scholarship (Nov. 2022)
- NL Centenary of Responsible Government Scholarship (Dec. 2021)
- University of Toronto Scholars Award (Oct. 2021)
- NL Education Foundation Scholarship (Sep. 2021)
Experience
- RISE Germany (May–Aug. 2024) – Research internship in the genome biology of rye (Secale cereale) at the Julius-Kühn-Institut (Groß Lüsewitz, MV, Germany), funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Presentations
- Wentzell H.M., Xie T., Chang B.S.W. 2025. Molecular evolution of cetacean phototransduction and visual cycle genes. University of Toronto Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Undergraduate Research Fair, Toronto, ON, Canada (poster).
- Wentzell H.M., Xie T., Chang B.S.W. 2025. Molecular evolution of cetacean visual genes. Trinity College Undergraduate Research Conference, Toronto, ON, Canada (oral presentation).
- Wentzell H.M., Hackauf B. 2024. The private genome of rye. RISE Germany Conference, Heidelberg, BW, Germany (oral presentation).