Washington Research Foundation announces 2026 cohort of WRF Postdoctoral Fellows

12 early-career researchers will receive three years of support to carry out projects at the Institute for Systems Biology, University of Washington and Washington State University addressing areas of public need

SEATTLE, Dec. 17, 2025 — Washington Research Foundation (WRF) has awarded three-year postdoctoral fellowships to a new cohort of 12 early-career researchers who will pursue innovative, high-impact projects in the natural sciences and engineering. The 2026 WRF Postdoctoral Fellows will carry out research of their own design at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), the University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU), addressing scientific challenges with the goal of enabling discoveries that can lead to new products, services or practices.

Since launching the program in 2018, WRF has awarded 102 fellowships across 90 labs at nine Washington state institutions. Fellows receive three years of salary, benefits and expense support, enabling them to pursue ambitious, independent investigations in established research labs. In addition to financial support, WRF provides professional development and networking opportunities to foster a statewide community of scientific leaders. Program alumni have gone on to roles in academia and industry, including joining or founding startup companies.

The incoming Fellows will begin their projects in 2026. Their research spans quantitative ecology, immunology, microbiome science, protein engineering, therapeutic development and clean energy. The 2026 fellows are:

• Stefany Cruz — Ph.D., computer engineering, Northwestern University. At UW (Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering), she will develop on-device agentic AI technologies for privacy-preserving, real-time sensing and decision-making to support safety and sustainability in urban environments.
• Winston Dredge — Ph.D., biomedical sciences (genetics & genomics), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. At UW (Dept. of Genome Sciences), he will use multimodal single-cell data to investigate how genetic variation impacts early human development.
• Nastacia Goodwin — Ph.D., neuroscience, University of Washington. At UW (Dept. of Psychology), she will study climate-change impacts on collective social behavior in bumblebees and identify genes associated with resilience.
• Kunal Lodaya — Ph.D., chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At UW (Dept. of Chemistry), he will investigate high-capacity redox flow batteries, combining spectroscopy and electrochemistry to identify kinetic limitations and design improved materials.
• Allyson Martin — Ph.D., entomology, Louisiana State University. At WSU (Dept. of Entomology), she will apply molecular and multiomic techniques to understand how non-crop floral resources in orchards influence managed pollinator health and productivity.
• Jongbeom Park — Ph.D., molecular biology, Princeton University. At UW (Dept. of Genome Sciences), he will use ultra-high-throughput single-cell and functional genomic approaches to examine how developmental and environmental variations affect mammalian newborns.
• Zoe Rand — Ph.D., quantitative ecology and resource management, UW. At UW’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, she will develop methods to estimate phytoplankton abundance from environmental DNA to improve detection and monitoring of harmful algal blooms.
• Nathaniel Ritz — Ph.D., neuroscience, University College Cork and APC Microbiome Ireland. At ISB, he will develop a high-throughput screening platform to identify how gut chemosensors respond to microbial metabolites, advancing understanding of host–microbe communication.
• Jonas Wilhelm — Ph.D., biochemistry, University of Heidelberg. At UW’s Institute for Protein Design, he will apply machine-learning–driven protein design to create biocatalysts for large-scale greenhouse-gas removal technologies.
• Marcus Wong — Ph.D., infectious diseases and immunity, UC Berkeley. At UW (Dept. of Immunology), he will explore strategies to expand protective immune memory responses to malaria and other infectious diseases of global importance.
• Chuanyun Xu — Ph.D., biology, Stanford University. At the Institute for Protein Design, he will develop transmembrane proteins for cellular sensing and control, advancing neurobiology research and enabling new therapeutic strategies.
• Lu Yu — Ph.D., biochemistry, Arizona State University. At UW (Dept. of Bioengineering), she will develop programmable antibody–drug conjugates enabled by DNA nanotechnology to advance targeted cancer therapy.

Nathaniel Ritz, Ph.D., will carry out his fellowship in the Venkatesh Lab at ISB, focusing on high-throughput screening technologies to decode chemical communication between the gut microbiota and human cells. “We’re trying to understand a fundamental question in biology—how gut bacteria ‘talk’ to our bodies through chemical signals,” Ritz said. “The WRF fellowship allows us to develop new technologies that could reveal these conversations at an unprecedented scale, potentially opening doors for new therapeutic approaches to diseases with gut–brain connections and transforming how we study host–microbe interactions.”

“WRF is excited to support this extraordinary group of postdoctoral fellows as they pursue research with the potential for real-world impact in a variety of fields,” said Clarisse Benson, manager of student and postdoctoral programs at WRF. “As WRF’s impact on Washington state’s postdoc community continues to grow, more early-career researchers are gaining the support, resources and networks needed to thrive and lead.”

WRF will open applications for the 2027 cohort of WRF Postdoctoral Fellows in May 2026.

About Washington Research Foundation

Washington Research Foundation (WRF) supports research, scholarship and entrepreneurship in Washington state, with a focus on life sciences and enabling technologies. Founded in 1981 to assist universities and nonprofit research institutions with commercialization and licensing, WRF has earned more than $445 million in licensing revenue for the University of Washington and provided over $186 million in grants to Washington’s research institutions. WRF Capital has backed 132 local startups since 1996; returns support the Foundation’s grantmaking and investment programs. For more information, visit wrfseattle.org.

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Source: Washington Research Foundation