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Joint Berkeley Initiative for Microbiome Science

Joint Berkeley Initiative for Microbiome Science

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Reena Debray

Reena Debray is a PhD candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley advised by Dr. Britt Koskella.

What microbiome-related work do you do?

I study ecological and evolutionary processes that shape microbial communities. I’m interested in what we can translate from other systems (plants, animals) as well as how microbes are unique – both in their basic biology and the limits of the tools we have to observe them. I am primarily based in the lab, where I use the tomato phyllosphere microbiome as a model system, but I have also tackled these questions with theoretical, computational, and field approaches. After I finish my PhD, I will start my postdoc at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany. I will be tracking gut microbiome stability and evolution in a wild population of baboons in Amboseli, Kenya.

What have you gained from the initiative so far?

I have always appreciated the initiative as a way to meet researchers around Berkeley that I might never have known otherwise. I have really come to appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of microbiomes sciences as a result. In particular, I have learned a ton from our colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley Lab – an organization that otherwise would have been a complete mystery to me, even though it is so close by. Finally, as the former GSR for the initiative’s administration, I gained experience with event hosting, grant reporting, and brand identity development – skills that I expect to rely on long after my time here.

Learn more about Reena at her website here.

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  • About
    ▼
    • Leadership
    • Scientific Advisory Board
    • Partners
    • News
  • Community
    ▼
    • People
    • Spotlights
  • Education
    ▼
    • Graduate Courses
    • Undergraduate Courses
    • Seminars and Events
  • Connect
    ▼
    • Contact
  • Opportunites
    ▼
    • Careers
    • Graduate Opportunities
    • Undergraduate Opportunities