Ekkachai Khwanbua was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences (Plant Pathology) from Kasetsart University. He later moved to the United States to pursue doctoral training at Iowa State University with Dr. Steven Whitham. His doctoral research focused on plant immunity under climate change, particularly carbon dioxide signaling and its influence on immune responses. In parallel, he developed virus-induced gene-editing tools to enable rapid functional studies in plants. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington, working with Dr. Adam Steinbrenner. His research focuses on plant receptor-like proteins (RLPs) and their roles in cell surface immune signaling.