Ekkachai Khwanbua

Ekkachai is a Ph.D. student with a major in Plant Pathology and a minor in Genetics & Genomics under Dr. Steven Whitham. His research focus is on plant-virus interactions and plant genome editing. Ekkachai and his colleagues attempt to develop a virus-mediated gRNA delivery system using soybean mosaic virus (SMV) in order to achieve efficient somatic and heritable genome editing in soybean. He collaboratively works on CRISPR/Cas9 projects: base editor and intronized Cas9. Last but not least, he also works on another collaborative project which is focused on the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on plant-microbe interactions and soybean physiology.