Washington Research Foundation (WRF) supports outstanding early-career scientists through a number of channels, including its Postdoctoral Fellowship program. Each year the Foundation celebrates the achievements of these researchers at the WRF Postdoctoral Fellows Symposium. This year’s symposium, which was organized by program manager Clarisse Benson, took place on May 10th and featured an opening presentation by Dr. Colleen Delaney, presentations and posters by current fellows, and the presentation of the 2023 David Galas Distinguished Fellows Awards.
Following opening remarks by Dr. Tom Daniel, president and CEO of WRF, the first presentation of the day was delivered by invited speaker Dr. Colleen Delaney, founder and CSO of Deverra Therapeutics. As a physician, scientist, and entrepreneur, Dr. Delaney’s diverse career has been driven by a relentless desire to help cancer patients. Early in her career, hematopoietic cell transplantation—transplanting immature blood cells from healthy donors to patients—was the state-of-the-art treatment for blood cancers. While effective, this treatment required finding suitable donors, a significant challenge. Motivated to address this issue, Dr. Delaney joined the lab of Dr. Irwin Bernstein at Fred Hutch. Dr. Bernstein had just published a paper identifying a key regulator determining the fate of immature blood cells. Dr. Delaney wanted to translate this basic finding into clinically feasible methods for growing transplantable immature blood cells in the lab. Her dedication to developing and implementing cell-transplantation technologies has taken her from benches to bedsides to boardrooms. Though she has treated many patients, published numerous papers, and founded multiple companies, Dr. Delaney feels she is still at the start of her career. She advised the postdocs in attendance to seek mentorship, stay open to opportunities, and align their career goals with their passions and values, even if it means taking an unconventional path.
The fellows then took to the podium to share recent developments in their work. Kicking off the presentations, Dr. Ido Levin, a postdoc who is carrying out his fellowship under Dr. Sarah Keller in the UW Chemistry Department, discussed his work developing helical pipes inspired by the geometry of shark intestines. Unlike human intestines, shark intestines have a spiral-like, or helical, shape, which is believed to effectively move contents in one direction. Dr. Levin is studying how altering the characteristics of helical pipes affects the flow of liquid through them. As part of this work, he studies how flow-induced deformations promote unidirectional flow in pipes made of soft materials. He aims to identify which pipe geometries are most effective for preventing back-flow, particularly in pipes made of soft materials.
Next, Dr. Eva Nichols, a postdoc under Dr. Brian Beliveau and Dr. Jay Shendure in the UW Genome Sciences Department, presented her innovative work developing methods to analyze a new type of microscopy images. Recent advances have made it possible for scientists to visualize DNA and RNA in every cell of a developing mouse embryo. Dr. Nichols is pioneering data analysis techniques designed to automatically discern the boundaries between cells, quantify the DNA or RNA present in each cell, and maintain a record of each cell’s spatial orientation relative to others within the embryo. These new analysis techniques, combined with advanced microscopy, will greatly enhance researchers’ understanding of cellular dynamics throughout development.
Dr. Sumitra Tatapudy, working under Dr. Elli Theobald in the UW Biology Department, then presented her research on how competition and the perception of competition among undergraduate biology students perpetuate inequities in STEM classrooms. It is well-documented that students from minoritized backgrounds often experience inequitable outcomes in STEM coursework. Dr. Tatapudy aims to understand the forces behind these differential outcomes. Her current work focuses on competition in the classroom, which many students cite as a primary reason for leaving STEM. By analyzing which course structures, student interactions, instructor interactions, and out-of-class factors contribute most to the perception of competition, Dr. Tatapudy hopes to equip professors with the information they need to design more equitable courses.
Dr. Jingshan Du, a fellow in Dr. James De Yoreo’s lab at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, shared his work on developing methods for visualizing the ice-water interface. Using a novel transmission electron microscopy technique, Dr. Du has captured images of ice crystals forming at the molecular scale. By studying the formation of these ice crystals, Dr. Du aims to facilitate the development of effective anti-ice agents and enhance our understanding of the different ice and bubble structures found in ice cores, which can provide insights into the climate at the time the ice formed.
Next, Dr. Kasim Rafiq, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Briana Abrahms’ lab in the UW Biology Department, presented his work on how climate change impacts the movements and behaviors of African predators in Botswana. Dr. Rafiq developed new tracking collar technologies to help monitor the behaviours of African wild dogs and lions. By tracking animal behavior and juxtaposing these behaviors and movements with environmental data, Dr. Rafiq aims to better understand how predators are responding to the changing environment and the potential consequences these changes may have for predator populations in the future.
Dr. Ellie Armstrong, a postdoc in Dr. Joanna Kelley’s lab in the WSU Department of Biological Sciences, shared her research on the genomic diversity of North American brown bears. By studying the similarities and differences in the genomes of wild North American brown bears across the continent, Dr. Armstrong aims to enhance our understanding of which bear populations have more or less genomic diversity, and consequently, which populations may be more or less resilient to environmental changes. As part of this work, she is developing novel genomic tools to identify individual bears from biological samples and determine their population origins.
Dr. Richard V. Lee, a postdoc in Dr. Devin MacKenzie’s lab in the UW Department of Materials Science and Engineering, next presented his work developing novel biosensors capable of identifying the presence of diseases from exhaled human breath. Dr. Lee is using peptides, which are small parts of proteins, that are bio-inspired from insect olfactory receptors and capable of binding to volatile organic compound (VOC) disease biomarkers with high specificity in conjunction with carbon nanotubes—microscopic tubes made of carbon—to develop devices that can detect respiratory disease biomarkers. As a platform technology, this biosensor also has the potential to facilitate early disease identification in a variety of illnesses, greatly improving patient outcomes.
The last presentation of the day was delivered by Dr. Kelly Michaelsen, an assistant professor at the UW Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine mentored by Dr. Shyam Gollakota at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. Dr. Michaelsen is developing an artificial intelligence enabled wearable camera system to detect medication and procedural errors in anesthesiology. Utilizing cutting-edge computer vision methods, this tool can detect and recognize vials and syringes in the hands of clinicians. By inspecting vial and syringe labels, the tool can identify the drug being administered, aiming to raise an alarm if it detects a discrepancy in the drug or dose given to a patient. This technology has the potential to significantly reduce dangerous medication errors.
In addition to these outstanding presentations, the formal portion of the symposium included the presentation of the 2023 David Galas Distinguished Fellow Awards. This award honors David Galas, Ph.D., for his critical role in founding and leading the WRF Postdoctoral Fellowship Program until his death last year. Dr. Tom Daniel reminded attendees that Dr. Galas believed in thinking big, taking bold risks, and investing in people. This award aims to accomplish all three of these goals by providing two postdoctoral fellows engaged in groundbreaking research with $7,500 each in supplementary funds to apply toward their research objectives. This year’s recipients were Dr. Ellie Armstrong and Dr. Jingshan Du.
Dr. Armstrong announced that she would use her additional funding to study brown bear specimens in museum collections across North America. She emphasized the importance of museum collections in biological research and encouraged attendees to support local museums in their communities. Dr. Du shared that he would use his additional funding to attend a wider range of conferences than he otherwise could, enabling him to share his work with researchers from the water research and microscopy fields. He was recently selected as a Young Scientist of the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting and plans to use part of the funding to travel and attend events associated with this honor.
Following the formal presentations, symposium attendees enjoyed two poster sessions where fellows from newer cohorts shared their work. These sessions provided an opportunity for attendees to engage directly with the researchers, ask questions, and discuss their innovative studies in greater detail. The exchange of ideas and feedback during these sessions highlighted the collaborative spirit and dedication to advancing scientific knowledge that defines the WRF Postdoctoral Fellowship program. The symposium concluded with a renewed sense of connection among members of the WRF community and a continued commitment to supporting early-career scientists as they push boundaries across their diverse respective fields.
The WRF Postdoctoral Fellowship application typically opens in May of each year. Additional details can be found here.
Story by Sophia Jannetty