Jason Leung

ORISE Fellow at USDA ARS | Incoming PhD Student at Columbia University

About Me

Hey there! I’m an aspiring evolutionary biologist and botanist.

My mission is to study and protect our natural heritage in the field, lab, and command line. I want to push a frontier in our science by learning and applying modern genomic tools.

Right now, I’m an ORISE Fellow at the Sustainable Perennial Crops Lab at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, where I generate resources and analyses like genome assemblies and SNP panels for economically important tropical plants and their pathogens.

In the Fall of 2023, I’ll be matriculating at Columbia University as a PhD student under the mentorship of Professor Deren Eaton.

UPDATES:

2023.04.21: Check out our genome announcement in PhytoFrontiers for Marasmius tenuissimus, an emerging fungal pathogen of cacao

2023.04.12: After receiving offers from 3 graduate schools, I’ve decided to attend Columbia University in the fall! Many thanks to all my friends and family, my recommenders, and the advisors that welcomed me to their labs for visits.

2020.04.04: I set up this website! Based on a Jekyll design by sproogen.

Projects

A draft genome resource for *Marasmius tenuissimus*

https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTOFR-03-23-0027-A

Thread blight disease (TBD) is a serious emerging threat to global cacao production, causing leaf blight symptoms and necrosis in the canopy of infected trees. Though previously thought to be caused primarily by the fungus Marasmiellus scandens, recent work has revealed that a variety of pathogenic Marasmiaceae are responsible for TBD, with Marasmius tenuissimus identified as the dominant causal agent of TBD in Ghanaian cacao plantations. M. tenuissimus has also been reported in remote organic cacao plantations in the Amazonas Department of Peru, infecting 90-100% of the trees surveyed. Here we have assembled and annotated the nuclear genome of M. tenuissimus isolate GH-37. This resource is a first attempt at a high-quality draft genome utilizing both second- and third-generation sequencing for M. tenuissimus and extends the current understanding of the evolution, ecology, and virulence of this pathogen.

Experience

Sork Lab at UCLA

https://sorklab.eeb.ucla.edu/

Student Research Assistant

January 2018 - Present

How are long-lived species going to survive the human induced rapid environmental changes induced by ecosystem modification and climate change?

  • Currently exploring hybridization and adaptive introgression in 3 Southern California oak species
  • Designed a common garden for 300 valley oak ( Quercus lobata ) seedlings for study of genetic variation across climatic gradients
  • Investigated relationship between acorn size and germination in valley oak across 10 populations in California

Office of Environment, Health, and Safety (EH&S) at UCLA

https://www.ehs.ucla.edu/

GreenLabs Fellow

December 2019 - Present

Laboratory facilities...represent the university’s single-largest consumer of energy and water on a per-square-foot space basis.

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/humboldt_bay/

Field Botany Intern

July 2018 - September 2018

Working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

Education

University of California, Los Angeles

B.S Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution

September 2017 - June 2021

FIAT LUX | let there be light

Relevant coursework: • Computer Science I & II • Algorithms in Bioinformatics • Geographic Information Systems • Calculus of Several Variables • Linear Algebra and Applications • Differential Equations • Genetics • Population Genetics • Ecology and Behavior • Conservation Biology • Plant Ecology • Plant Diversity and Evolution • Plant Physiology

A Little More About Me