Grant Winners | GENEWIZ from Azenta

Explore some of our grant winners from past GENEWIZ Weeks, GENEWIZ University, Summer Camp, and the Academic Fast Grant Program. We’re proud to support innovative research and help advance discoveries that are shaping the future of genomics. Check out our 2025 GENEWIZ Grant Winners Recap and be on the lookout for future GENEWIZ grant opportunities.

Interested in funding your next breakthrough? Stay in the loop and be among the first to learn about our next competition. You could be our next grant winner!

$10,000 PacBio Kinnex SMRT Grant

Anna Dischler
Research Scientist/Lab Manager, University of Colorado Anschutz
Resolving Full-Length FMR1 Transcript Isoforms Associated with CGG Repeat Expansions in FXTAS
$3,000 PacBio Kinnex SMRT Grant

Jing Wang
Associate Specialist, University of California, San Francisco
Temporal Dynamics of RNA Splicing During Human Brain Development
$2,000 PacBio Kinnex SMRT Grant

Kanishk Jain
Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota
Characterizing full-length transcript isoform changes after acute PHRF1 degradation using PacBio Kinnex mRNA sequencing
$500 Sanger Sequencing Grant

Priya Arumugam
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Penn State University College of Medicine
Genetic variants in IRGM and PNPLA3 impair autophagy and lipophagy, reducing metabolic hepatic responses to exercise in liver disease patients
$300 Sanger Sequencing Grant

Courtney Clark-Hachtel
Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Asheville
Mechanisms of extreme survival: Uncovering how tardigrades can tolerate extreme radiation
$5,000 New Wizard Grant

Vivek Khambhati
Graduate Research Assistant, Louisiana State University
Engineering a Scalable Escherichia coli RNAi Platform Integrating SIGS and MIGS for Enhanced Durability in Plant Disease Control
$3,000 New Wizard Grant

Jonathan Dain
Ph.D. Student, UMass Boston
Identifying the molecular mechanism of HPAI tolerance in asymptomatic Mallards
$2,000 Gene Synthesis Grant

Wesley Leong
Visiting Undergraduate Research Fellow, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Generative Design of Cell Type-Specific mRNA Splicing for Programmable Gene Regulation
$3,000 NGS Grant

Tamilselvi Elango
Research Scientist, University of Virginia
Transcriptomic Profiling of Nano-Romidepsin Induced Epigenetic Reprogramming in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

$3,000 Single-Cell Superstar Grant

Ryan Weiss
Assistant Professor, University of Georgia
Investigating peripheral nervous system dysfunction in Sanfilippo syndrome
$2,000 Single-Cell Superstar Grant

Raissa Dani
Graduate Student, University of California, Davis
Defining the chromatin state and transcriptomic landscape heterogeneity of oocytes during ovarian reserve formation
$5,000 Antibody All-Stars Grant

Lester Suarez
VP, M34, Inc.
Structure-guided engineering of a novel anti-PD-L1 antibody for canine cancer immunotherapy
$2,000 Antibody All-Stars Grant

Riss Kell
Postdoctoral Scientist, Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute
One gene, 100 years: p63’s role in cancer-free longevity
$3,000 New Wizard on the Block Grant

Fergus Woods
Ph.D. Candidate, University College Dublin
Unveiling sex-bias in Alzheimer’s disease using astrocyte cells
$2,000 New Wizard on the Block Grant

Olayemi Ajayi
Graduate Assistant, University of Cincinnati
Seasonal changes in the transcriptome of ring-tailed lemurs
$5,000 Genomics Mixtape Grant

Yaamini Venkataraman
Assistant Professor, Santa Clara University
Investigating genomic and plastic contributions to thermal tolerance in a non-indigenous crab
$3,000 Genomics Mixtape Grant

Des Field
Senior Researcher, APC University College Cork
Exploring the therapeutic potential of nisin peptides of gut microbiome origin
$3,000 Genomics Mixtape Grant

Amaranatha Vennapusa
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Delaware State University
Development of genetic resources for high-temperature stress tolerance in industrial hemp
$3,000 NGS Explorer Grant

Imane Allaoui
Ph.D. Student, University College Cork
Impact of the immunization route (oral, patch, and intramuscular) on the pigs transcriptomics profile
$2,000 NGS Explorer Grant

Michael Metzger
Assistant Investigator, Pacific Northwest Research Institute
Evolution of an outbreak of transmissible cancers in clams
$5,000 Synthesis Voyager Grant

Karen Mruk
Assistant Professor, East Carolina University
New RNA-based switches to study regenerative biology
$2,000 Synthesis Voyager Grant

Alejandro Olmedo-Velarde
Assistant Professor, Iowa State University
Harnessing viral proteins to deliver and enhance protein-based biopesticides to control soybean aphid populations
$5,000 Wizard Pioneer Grant

Fatima Farouk Aminu
Postgraduate Researcher, Coventry University
Investigating the role of hypoxia-mediated metabolic dysregulation in immune evasion in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
$3,000 Wizard Pioneer Grant

Reilly Brennan
Graduate Student (Ph.D. Candidate), Virginia Tech
De novo genome assembly of Oligoryzomys longicaudatus: Unlocking host tolerance to Andes orthohantavirus
$2,000 Wizard Pioneer Grant

Lena Grinsted
Senior Lecturer in Zoology, University of Portsmouth
The tolerant spider: A new model for understanding alternative sociality
$2,000 Gene-to-Discovery Grant

Paulina Misztak
Postdoctoral Researcher, Louisiana State University
Determining the astrocytic role of specific potassium channel subunits in alcohol drinking
$5,000 Gene Synthesis Grant

Lewis Hibbs
CTO & Co-Founder, NKA Bio
Gene-to-hit in 8 hours
$3,000 Gene Synthesis Grant

Lyon Bruinsma
Postdoctoral Researcher, Wageningen University & Research
Carbon Link: Creating enzymes for single-to-multi-carbon synthesis
$3,000 Pioneer Grant

Michael Sadler
Research Scientist, University of Washington
Microbial community of the ultraoligotrophic Crater Lake
$5,000 Gene Synthesis Grant

George Chao
Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School
Coupling AI and genome-wide screening for patient-specific genome editing
$3,000 Gene Synthesis Grant

Menglin Li
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles
Identification of cell-type-specific cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) in the primate retina
$5,000 Sequencing Grant

Young Song
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
Role of uterine E-proteins TCF3 and TCF12 in decidualization and placentation
$3,000 Sequencing Grant

Phillip Dumesic
Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco
Transcriptional regulation of metabolic flexibility