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 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 innovative discoveries that eventually lead to the creation of new products, services or practices.

WRF has awarded 102 fellowships across 90 labs in nine Washington state institutions since launching the program in 2018 to support exceptional scientists during a formative period in their careers. Fellows receive three years of salary, benefits and expenses 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 since progressed to a variety of roles in academia and industry, with several joining or founding startup companies. Caleb Stoltzfus and Norma Morella, members of the 2019 and 2020 cohorts respectively, now serve on the program's selection committee.

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

• Stefany Cruz earned her Ph.D. in computer engineering from Northwestern University. As a WRF Postdoctoral Fellow in UW's Department of Computer Science & Engineering, she will develop on-device agentic Al technologies for safety and sustainability in urban environments, enabling real-time privacy-preserving sensing and decision-making.
• Winston Dredge earned his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences in the genetics and genomics training area from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During his fellowship in UW's Department of Genome Sciences, he will use multimodal single-cell data to investigate how genetic variation impacts early human development.
• Nastacia Goodwin earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience at UW. In the Department of Psychology at UW, she will study the impacts of climate change on collective social behavior in bumblebees, identifying associated genes for modification to boost climate resilience.
• Kunal Lodaya earned his PhD in chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In UW's Department of Chemistry, he will investigate an emerging class of high-capacity redox flow batteries, using a combination of spectroscopy and electrochemistry to uncover kinetic limitations and design improved materials.
• Allyson Martin earned her Ph.D. in entomology from Louisiana State University. In WSU's Department of Entomology, she will employ molecular and multiomic techniques to reveal mechanistic insights into how non-crop floral resources in orchard settings influence the health and productivity of managed pollinators.
• Jongbeom Park completed his Ph.D. in molecular biology at Princeton University. In the Department of Genome Sciences at UW, he will employ ultra-high-throughput single-cell technologies and functional genomic approaches to examine how developmental and environmental variations affect mammalian newborns.
• Zoe Rand earned her Ph.D. in quantitative ecology and resource management from UW. In UW's School of Marine and Environmental Affairs and NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center, she will develop quantitative methods to estimate the abundance of phytoplankton from environmental DNA to improve detection and monitoring of harmful algal blooms.
• Nathaniel Ritz earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience from 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 our understanding of host-microbe communication.
• Jonas Wilhelm earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. At UW's Institute for Protein Design (IPD), he will apply machine-learning–driven protein design to create new biocatalysts for large-scale greenhouse-gas removal technologies.
• Marcus Wong earned his Ph.D. in infectious diseases and immunity at the University of California, Berkeley. In the UW Department of Immunology, he will explore new strategies to expand protective immune memory responses to malaria and other infectious diseases of global health importance.
• Chuanyun Xu earned his Ph.D. in biology from Stanford University. At IPD, he will integrate state-of-the-art protein design technologies to develop new transmembrane proteins for cellular sensing and control. His work aims to advance fundamental neurobiology research and enable new therapeutic strategies.
• Lu Yu earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Arizona State University. In the UW Department 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 developing high-throughput screening technologies to decode chemical communication between the gut microbiota and human cells. This work should enable researchers to better understand potential causes and treatments for related diseases.

"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 more broadly."

"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 already-significant 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 its application 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.

WRF was founded in 1981 to assist universities and other nonprofit research institutions in Washington with the commercialization and licensing of their technologies. WRF became one of the foremost technology transfer organizations in the nation, earning more than $445 million in licensing revenue for the University of Washington. To date, WRF has provided over $186 million in grants to the state's research institutions.

WRF Capital, the investment vehicle for Washington Research Foundation, has backed 132 local startups since 1996. Returns support the Foundation's grantmaking and investment programs.

For additional information, please visit wrfseattle.org.

Media contact:
Dale Wadman
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (206) 336-5600

SOURCE WASHINGTON RESEARCH FOUNDATION