From Bakar to Breakthrough: How a QWEST Internship Sparked an NSF Fellowship

By Ruhani Chhabra.

In early 2024, Greg Timblin sought an intern who could bring dedication, curiosity, and a fresh perspective to his startup, Inapill. UC Berkeley undergrad Katie Sie was eager to expand her skills beyond the classroom and into the fast-moving world of therapeutic innovation. QB3’s QWEST program, which pairs students with Bakar Labs tenant companies for hands-on research, offered the perfect match – one that would lead Katie to a prestigious PhD fellowship.

When Katie, a double major in bioengineering and electrical engineering & computer science, joined Inapill, the company was only six months old; it was just her and Greg in the lab. Katie had spent the earlier part of her Berkeley career working at the Innovative Genomics Institute, where she specialized in CRISPR-based synthetic biology. Inapill is developing new types of oral medicines designed to help patients with autoimmune conditions. Joining Inapill marked a turning point in Katie’s training. “Working with Greg was a great way for me to understand [cell tissue culture and how early-stage biotech works],” she says.

That experience proved pivotal when Katie began applying for graduate programs and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, one of the nation’s most competitive awards for emerging scientists. With Greg’s guidance, she developed a research proposal centered on Gaucher disease, a rare condition caused by a mutation that prevents the breakdown of certain fats. Drawing on what she learned at Inapill, she proposed an innovative approach using CRISPR to engineer probiotics to restore enzyme function and cellular balance.

Katie’s proposal earned her the NSF fellowship, funding the first three years of her PhD in bioengineering at the University of Washington. She credits both Inapill and the QWEST program for shaping her direction—not just for lab experience, but for meeting other passionate scientists that broadened her views. She hadn’t been aware of the NSF fellowship’s prestige until attending a QWEST networking event, where she learned that it could reopen opportunities at programs affected by funding limitations. Just weeks later, national research funding cuts made that advice especially relevant. “In the end, [the fellowship] really became a safety net,” she says.

Reflecting on their collaboration on the proposal, Greg strongly credits Katie’s innovative thinking. “As much as the work at Inapill might have provided some inspiration, and I provided editing and suggestions to tweak and improve it, she gets the credit for using her experience to come up with this novel approach that ended up getting her the fellowship,” he says.

Katie’s story embodies what makes the Bakar Bio Labs ecosystem so powerful. From the mentorship she received at Inapill to the connections forged through the QWEST program, her journey highlights how immersive experiences can shape a student’s path. “[The successful proposal] was a testament to the skills I had learned and my ability to design an experimental workflow,” she says.

For companies like Inapill, the QWEST program can offer more than an extra helper at the lab—it provides the opportunity to mentor and inspire the next generation of innovators.

Interested in applying to the QWEST program? Learn more here.

This story was also published on the QB3 website.