Dr. Jacqueline Renee Phan is a postdoctoral scholar at the School of Public Health in the division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley. Phan is on a tremendous journey to explore how the gut microbiome affects various disease formations in the human body.
In her research at Ashley Wolf Lab, she is studying the shigella flexneri bacteria, one of the four different types of bacteria that causes shigellosis, an intestinal infection that causes bloodydiarrhea among other symptoms.
“It can be very detrimental; it can cause dehydration and even death,” she said. “So our goal is to actually look at different players in the gut microbiome, meaning different bacteria that might be able to reduce growth and virulence of shigella.”
“I've always been fascinated with infectious diseases, so I really like to stay kind of within that realm but [my] research before wasn't primarily focused on the gut microbiome,” she said.
During her PhD, Phan helped develop compounds that are synthetic versions of what we find in our gut, which are called bioassets. This helped in research to determine a stronger protection against Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection. Other roles also offered ways to look into how the gut microbiomes and various diseases of the body were interdependent.
The research in finding out what happens to the gut is not only aimed to solve medical problems but also has unusual connections to different parts of the human body, according to Phan. The gut, as popular belief has it, actually could possibly determine what happens to the brain as well.
“There's also relationships between the gut microbiome and neurological health, so it spans further than just infectious diseases,” Phan said, noting the importance of gut health in the wellbeing of humans.
As a PhD scholar from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, she said that the most intriguing aspect of continuing her studies at UC Berkeley was having a cutting-edge gnotobiotic facility.
“What that basically means is an animal facility where you can have mice that don't have any bacteria or, and you can basically colonize them with whatever bacteria you want. So that's a really good way to study the gut microbiome,” she further explained. Other than the research component, she said the attraction to Berkeley was its diversity in the student and faculty community.
“I also do like to be in places that are diverse, to get different minds thinking together. I really like the collaborative aspect of UC Berkeley,” she said.
Phan has published distinguished research papers on gut microbiomeat different universities and institutes. She was also selected as one of the American Association of University Women 2024 fellows among 31 inspiring California fellows and grant recipients. At UNLV, she received the College Outstanding Thesis Award in 2018 for her master’s project.
With all the accolades aside, Phan said that her biggest accomplishment is that she was able to work towards her academic goals as well as be close to her family.
She juggled between being a parent and grad school student, but having a support system really helped, she said, noting her husband’s effort in all this. “I really love to share my knowledge because I'm not a very traditional student … I had a kid when I was very young and I have three kids right now,” she said.
However, Phan loves being an academic and hopes to one day work in her own lab confronting complex science problems. Outside of her research, she also enjoys mentoring students pursuing careers in academia.
“The truth is that your PhD is like 90% failure, and the last 10% is your dissertation. But it is because you're doing something from scratch. You're doing something no one else has ever done before,” she said. Her mantra to get through difficult phases of academic frustration is to go through it as strongly as only one can.
"It's really the times that we fail that open up new questions and so that in turn gives you more ability to come up with new research plans for the future,” she said.