The first cohort of postdoctoral researchers has been selected for the SeaBridge Fellowship, a translational research training program affiliated with the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (Seattle Hub) focused on cell and genome programming technologies.
The eight scientists will incorporate Seattle Hub’s cell and genome programming technologies into their unique research projects in laboratories at University of Washington or Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
Each SeaBridge Fellow will receive two years of financial support, as well as funding for structured career development curriculum, mentorship training, and networking opportunities. The Fellowships are supported by a $10 million grant from Washington Research Foundation (WRF), with additional financial support from Biohub and the UW Medicine Brotman Baty Institute (BBI).
“This is an exceptional opportunity for early career scientists,” said Seattle Hub Co-Director Marion Pepper, Ph.D., who also chairs the UW Medicine Department of Immunology. “They will work with Seattle Hub mentors to learn and apply cell and genome programming technologies to address key research questions, as well as opt into either Entrepreneurial or Discovery tracks depending on each fellow’s desired focus.”
Fellows will also have exposure to the SeaBridge LaunchPad incubator program, including training opportunities focused on learning the fundamentals of start-up biotech companies.
Seattle Hub, which launched in January of 2024 with a five-year, $70 million grant, is a collaboration among the Allen Institute, BBI, UW Medicine, and Biohub.
These postdocs are the first eight of up to an expected 40 fellows to be selected over five years to further advance Seattle Hub’s technologies. The vision of the SeaBridge program is to diversify Seattle Hub technologies into new Seattle-area companies to commercialize novel therapeutics, diagnostics, or other cell-based technologies. The ultimate goal is to offer new clinical interventions to improve patients’ lives.
“This funding was WRF’s first BioInnovation Grant, which we launched to increase our support for big, emergent opportunities to advance Washington state’s life sciences innovation ecosystem,” said Meher Antia, Ph.D., Director of WRF’s grant programs. “We see this grant as a significant investment in translating an exciting platform technology into concrete applications, building on our region’s biotechnology strengths. This first cohort represents some of the ‘best and brightest’ in biotechnology, genomics, and other related disciplines.”
The incoming fellows will be applying Seattle Hub technologies in broad fields of study. They are:
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Changho Chun earned a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the UW and is a postdoctoral scholar in the UW Department of Rehabilitation Medicine. He will be mentored by David Mack, Ph.D. and Alec Smith, Ph.D. Dr. Chun’s Fellowship work will use Seattle Hub cellular recording technologies to map the cellular communication and physiological changes that enable voluntary movement. Insights from this work could help guide the development of new treatments for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
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Ian Linde earned a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University and is now a postdoctoral scholar with Cyrus Ghajar, Ph.D., in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch. Dr. Linde’s research will use cellular programming to study how gene mutations change over time in different immune and physiological environments, and why some of these cells go on to form breast cancer tumors while others do not. This work aims to improve how cancer risk is identified and support the development of future cancer-prevention strategies, including vaccines.
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Abigail Nagle earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the UW and is now a postdoctoral scholar with Jennifer Davis, Ph.D., in the UW Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. Dr. Nagle aims to use the Seattle Hub cellular recording technology to better understand how cross talk between connective tissue and heart muscle tissue can become dysregulated and lead to heart disease.
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Stephanie Sansbury earned her Ph.D. in Genetics and Epigenetics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is now a postdoctoral scholar with David Baker, Ph.D., in the UW Department of Biochemistry and Institute for Protein Design. Dr. Sansbury’s research will use cell programming technology as a tool to screen and select engineered protein nanoparticles, thereby significantly expanding the number and quality of therapeutics delivered to cells.
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Zachary Stevenson earned his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Oregon and is a postdoctoral scholar with Jay Shendure, M.D., Ph.D., in the UW Department of Genome Sciences. Dr. Stevenson’s work will focus on the creation of synthetic cellular circuits to broaden the scope of cell programming as well as improve the timing and precision of the technology.
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Julie Trolle earned her Ph.D. and MSc in Biomedical Sciences from the New York University Grossman School of Medicine and now conducts research as a postdoctoral scholar with the lab of Sudarshan Pinglay, Ph.D., lab in the UW Department of Genome Sciences. Dr. Trolle’s research aims to engineer cancer-fighting T cells to simultaneously exhibit traits by the expression of multiple genes, thereby improving their ability to kill tumor cells.
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Arata Wakimoto earned his Ph.D. in Human Biology from the University of Tsukuba in Japan and is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Nobuhiko Hamazaki, Ph.D., in the UW Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Dr. Wakimoto’s Fellowship research focuses on understanding embryonic development, specifically how the notochord helps shapes the body’s basic structure and nervous system. Discoveries from this work will provide insight into the origins of congenital spine and neural tube disorders and help inform future approaches to prevention and treatment.
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Rachel Wellington earned her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the UW and is now a postdoctoral scholar in the Translational Science and Therapeutics Division of Fred Hutch. Dr. Wellington will be mentored by Brandon Hadland, M.D., Ph.D., and Ying Zheng Ph.D. and plans to apply cellular recording technologies to track how different signals can influence how and when stem cells differentiate or renew. Understanding these differentiation events will improve the efficiency of stem cell-based therapies.
More information more about the SeaBridge Fellowship is available on the program’s website, (https://seabridge.uw.edu).
