Applications are now open for the new SeaBridge postdoctoral fellowship program which partners with the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology.
It will recruit and train approximately 40 postdocs over five years to advance SeattleHub’s technologies, leveraging academic strengths with host laboratories including the UW, Fred Hutch, and Seattle Children’s. The fellowships are funded by a grant from the Washington Research Foundation (WRF), the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), and a gift from the Brotman Baty Institute at UW Medicine. The program is administered in a partnership between the Brotman Baty Institute and the Department of Immunology at UW Medicine.
“These fellowships will help to fund and train postdocs while leading Seattle forward as the epicenter of synthetic biology,” said SeattleHub Co-Director Dr. Marion Pepper, chair of the UW Medicine Department of Immunology. “We’re laying the groundwork for a future in which human biology is monitored and manipulated with genetically encoded control systems that, potentially, will enable new treatments for patients.”
Potential fellows will build on and with SeaHub synthetic biology and all will have a translational focus, according to Pepper. More information, including how to apply, is at the SeaBridge website.
The fellowship program is one of two programmatic pillars that comprise SeaBridge, a five-year endeavor WRF is funding with a $10 million grant announced in March. “LaunchPad,” the second arm of SeaBridge, will create local start-up companies focusing on therapeutics, diagnostics, and other cell-based technologies based on SeaHub research. It is expected to begin in 2026. The two SeaBridge initiatives comprise an “integral element” of the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology, said Dr. Carrie Brockway, Executive Director of SeaBridge.
“We are training a new generation of scientists in human cell programming, with a goal of reprogramming disease to health.” Brockway said. “It’s a new frontier, but it's grounded in Seattle’s unique perch at the health-tech interface. It’s as far-reaching as it is innovative.”
SeattleHub is a collaboration among BBI, UW Medicine, the Allen Institute, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). It opened in January 2024 to generate foundational datasets, models, and molecular infrastructure to re-engineer cells to record their own histories and reprogram disease states into healthy functions. The Allen Institute and the CZI each committed $35 million in 2023 to establish SeattleHub.
