Kayla Simanek, a postdoctoral fellow in the van Kessel lab in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington, received the prestigious Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship.
Since joining the van Kessel lab in April 2025, Simanek has focused their research on biofilm formation mechanisms in the human skin pathogen, Vibrio vulnificus, to investigate virulence mechanisms.
Simanek's fellowship proposal was selected as part of LSRF’s 2026 class of 33 early-career postdoctoral researchers across all areas of the life sciences. The researchers will investigate some of the most compelling unanswered questions in the life sciences and address critical challenges in human health.
The fellowship is sponsored by the Robertson Foundation.
Before joining IU, Simanek received a Ph.D. from State University of New York at Albany.
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