Current Available Positions

For postdoctoral applicants, we are looking for dedicated individuals who have an interest in developing therapeutics for children, with backgrounds in non-cancer in vivo studies, neuroscience, or nanotechnology or biomaterials synthesis/formulation and applications.​

If you are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. or thesis M.S. at the University of Washington, please review our website to become familiar with our mission, prior publications, and current research. We accept graduate students from those individuals who have been accepted to chemical engineering, MolES, bioengineering, or one of the health sciences programs at UW.

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If you apply, please make sure you describe in your application how your past academic, industry and/or research experiences fit with our lab’s mission and your future career goals. Please e-mail Prof. Nance to let her know you have applied, which department you applied to, and highlight your primary research interests.

You do not need prior research experience or experience in our labs research areas of interest to join the Nance lab. Participating in research can give you an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills you are learning in the classroom to important biological and clinical challenges. Research is challenging ­by definition; as such, we are looking for students who are self-­starters, independent, and willing to explore uncharted territory, and who are willing to embrace failing (in a safe space!). Research opportunities are available on a volunteer or credit basis. Prof. Nance provides extensive support to students to secure research fellowships and scholarships. Please see our Personnel and Lab Alumni pages to get a sense of what scholarships and fellowships our undergraduate research members have received in past years.

Our general expectations for undergraduate researchers include:

• Dedicating a minimum of three quarters (1 academic year) to work in the lab. During the academic year, classes are your top priority. These are challenging projects and three quarters will give you the time to dive in and make significant contributions to research. We prefer at least one summer of commitment if that is an option for you.

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• No participation in undergraduate research in another lab.

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• During the academic quarters, spending 8-­10 hours per week (on average) working on research is critical. With bio-focused experimental research, experiments take time, although they can be organized into discreet time blocks. We know that classes, work, and other extracurricular activities keep your schedule busy. Ask yourself if you have time to responsibly dedicate to pursuing research.

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• Participating in weekly meetings with your mentor, in weekly lab meetings (when your class schedule allows) and monthly working group meetings. You should come prepared to the 1:1 meetings and working group meetings to share your progress, discuss challenges, and help yourself and your peers with their research.

• Participate in a yearly individualized development meeting with Prof. Nance and your graduate student mentor.

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• Keeping clear documentation and an electronic or hard copy lab notebook, depending on your research area. Others will likely be building upon and learning from your work in the future. Thus it is important that everyone keeps clear notes (including comments in any computer code) so that you can easily share what you have done.

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• Writing a quarterly report summarizing your progress that quarter and your experimental plans for the next quarter. For those completing research for credit, this report will be used to provide a grade for your research credit.

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• Defining clear goals and outcomes. We aim for everyone to produce a final report, abstract, or other publication based upon their project. We will work with you to help define these goals for your specific project and career goals!