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Meet Asama Lekbua

Tell us a bit about your background:

I was born and raised in the South of Thailand but lived all over Thailand and the Northeast of the United States. I received a full-tuition scholarship to study biology and neuroscience as an undergrad, with a focus on the human microbiome at Northeastern University. Being in the biotech hub, I couldn't resist learning first-hand what it was like to help build microbiome-based companies, so I spent a few years in the industry doing just that before starting my PhD. It is important to me to obtain my Ph.D. to be able to find and lead my own scientific endeavors one day, and UCSD is the perfect environment for that!

What are you studying/researching? 

I am a 4th year PhD student in Karsten Zengler's lab at the UCSD School of Medicine. My focus is on the skin microbiome, specifically innovating microbiology and bioinformatics tools to build a predictive model for the diverse human skin microbiome and to rationally design interventions that could help shape a healthy microbiome.

If you would like to see what Asama is up to, you can follow her Twitter: @asama_lekbua

 

Tell me a little bit about your campus involvement at UC San Diego. 

I am a busy bee! I am a Climate Intern with GEPA, student-elect representative on the School of Biological Sciences EDI committee, GPSA Social Rep for the School of Biological Sciences, operations manager for a non-profit that helps launch biotechs from academic labs (Nucleate), and BUMMP mentor. In my free time, I do yoga/pilates/spin and take pottery classes at the UCSD Craft Center. I lived on campus during my first 2 years and served as a Community Assistant at UCSD Graduate and Family Housing, hosting community-building events for all residents. My favorite activity to do on campus is mentoring students in my lab (serious!) and learning different forms of pottery. Outside of school, I love taking my dog to the many dog beaches in the San Diego area.

Why UC San Diego?

1) UC San Diego has the strongest track record for innovating microbiome science and therapeutics, including academic and industry collaborations. 2) During my interview, I could see myself thriving in the Ph.D. training environment at the School of Biological Sciences 3) Dog beaches