Melissa Y. Chen

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Haney lab at the University of British Columbia (Department of Microbiology and Immunology). I am broadly interested in understanding the ecological mechanisms through which host-associated microbiota are able to protect hosts from invaders and pathogens.

I completed my PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder (2021) in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department as a member of the McKenzie lab. I received my MSc from the University of British Columbia in 2017, where I worked in the Parfrey lab. My undergraduate degree was also obtained at the University of British Columbia, which had a focus in Cell and Developmental Biology (2015).

In my spare time, I enjoy drinking beer, running, and tending to my beginner-level houseplants. I am also an avid collector of jars and a tumbleweed enthusiast.