2026 WRF Postdoctoral Fellows Symposium
On May 29, nearly 100 researchers, mentors, WRF staff, directors and postdoc selection committee members gathered for the 2026 WRF Postdoctoral Fellows Symposium. Organized and emceed by WRF’s manager of student and postdoctoral programs, Clarisse Benson, the event showcased the ongoing projects of more than 30 WRF Postdoctoral Fellows.
Keynote: Embracing Complexity in Human Immunology
Following an introduction from Dr. Meher Antia, WRF’s director of grant programs, keynote speaker Dr. Jane Buckner, president of Benaroya Research Institute and scientific co-founder of GentiBio, presented her research on engineering regulatory T-cells (Tregs) as therapeutics for autoimmune disease. Dr. Buckner’s talk, Embracing Complexity in Human Immunology: Creating Tools to Dissect the Mechanisms Underlying Autoimmune Diseases, highlighted the promise and challenges of using engineered Tregs to rebalance the immune system and treat autoimmune and acute inflammatory diseases. GentiBio presented new clinical data related to this work and its potential application to type 1 diabetes at the recent 2026 American Diabetes Association Conference.
Research Presentations
Members of the 2023 and 2024 cohorts gave the following talks on their fellowship progress and findings, spanning genomics, cancer and chemical biology, neuroscience, immunology, ecology and condensed-matter physics:
EcoTrace Project: Mapping Environmental Pollution & Community Awareness in Placencia, Belize
PI: Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño
Antiviral immunity against pathogens of global importance
PI: Julie Overbaugh
Tracing cellular events during development using molecular recording
PI: Jay Shendure
Mom Has Your Back: Maternal Transmission of Protective T Cells to Offspring
PI: Meghan Koch
Scanning-probe tuning of electron-electron interactions in van der Waals devices
PI: Arthur Barnard
Gastric Cancer: A tale of two bacteria and one disease?
PI: Nina Salama
Multi-omics approaches in stem cell models to understand early embryonic development
PI: Jay Shendure & Lea Starita
Targeting aggressive pediatric cancers with extracellular-matrix binding llama nanobodies
PI: Elizabeth Lawlor
Decoding the Cell Surface Glycocode Using Chemical Glycobiology
PI: Nicholas Riley
Uncovering phenotypic diversity and cell-type-specific prefrontal cortex calcium dynamics in rat fentanyl self-administration
PI: Susan Ferguson
Exploring membrane mimetic systems to visualize integrin bidirectional signaling
PI: Melody Campbell
2026 WRF–David Galas Distinguished Fellow Awards
Camilo Gómez-Garzón and Emmajay Sutherland were announced as this year’s winners of the WRF–David Galas Distinguished Fellow Awards by selection committee co-chairs Aimée Dudley and Daniel Slichter, recognized for having demonstrated outstanding progress in their work.
Dr. Gómez-Garzón explained that he will use his $7,500 award to purchase supplies and enhance the academic experience of an undergraduate student who will be assisting with his project. Dr. Sutherland will use her additional funding to develop a public outreach program in partnership with the Pacific Science Center.
The award honors Dr. David Galas, a WRF board member for over a decade and a driving force behind the fellowship’s creation in 2017. Dr. Galas was the selection committee’s inaugural chair and served on the committee until his death in 2023.
Poster Session
The symposium concluded with networking and a poster session featuring more than 20 members of newer cohorts, giving them an opportunity to share their work and connect with colleagues at different stages of their careers. Poster presenters will give talks at a future WRF symposium as their projects near completion.
WRF awards up to 12 three-year Postdoctoral Fellowships each year to support independent research at nonprofit institutions in Washington state. The application for Fellowships beginning in 2027 is open through June 25. Learn more and apply at wrfseattle.org.