Who am I?

I am a science educator at Los Angeles Pierce College. I have rather an unusual career path to get to where I am now, and I would like to share it with you. I was brought to the United States in pursuit of a better life. I started my academic journey at a local community college: Pasadena City College (PCC), hoping to become a nurse. Life, however, took a turn and point me in a different direction. In 2005, I joined the Biotechnology Program at PCC. Under the mentorship of Dr. Pamela Eversole-Cire, I acquired valuable training to become a scientist. Upon completing the program, I was given an opportunity to do research as an intern at the Transmembrane Bioscience Inc., working under Dr. Hiep-Hoa Nguyen. Shortly after that, I accepted an offer to manage the chemistry stockroom at PCC.

In 2008, despite all the financial challenges, I was able to transfer to UC Berkeley. At Cal, I learned science from many great scientists. Just to name a few: Dr. John Kuriyan, Dr. Jack Kirsch, Dr. Fyodor Urnov, and Dr. Randy Schekman (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2013).

More importantly, I had a chance to work as a researcher at the laboratory of Dr. Kathleen Ryan. Under the mentorship of Dr. Stephen Smith, I searched for amino acid residues which control the removal of a protein, called CtrA, from the cytosol [1]. CtrA plays a central role in maintaining the proper cell cycle in one group of bacteria (known as the alpha-proteobacteria); hence, it is given a nickname: master cell cycle regulator.

I had a great time at the Ryan lab. Great mentor, cool people, awesome lab environment, and above all, cute bugs to work with: Caulobacter crescentus. Let me take a moment to share with you just how cool they are! Caulobacter cells can shape-shift into two forms: so-called ‘swarmer cells’ that are highly mobile thanks to their flagella (you can’t see it from the pictures), and so-called ‘stalked cells’ that can’t move (you can see the stalk from the pictures). When we messed up their cell cycle, these cells kept growing and failed to divide; hence, you can see they become elongated like spaghetti!!

In 2010, I graduated from UC Berkeley simultaneously obtaining two bachelor degrees with the highest distinction (summa cum laude) in Microbial Biology (Honors), and Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) with emphasis on Biochemistry.

From Berkeley, I moved back to Pasadena to attend a Ph.D. program at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). ​I joined the lab of Dr. Douglas C. Rees to study the mechanism of how a mechanosensitive channel works. Particularly, my research focuses on the structural investigation of a unique mechanosensitive channel family in eukaryotes, called Piezo.

This channel was just discovered by the Patapoutian group at Scripps Research Institute (San Diego) around the time I entered the graduate program at Caltech. Piezo is quite an interesting channel family. Among many other things, the Piezo channel is huge! Piezo genes in human codes for over 2500 amino acids, which is roughly nine times the median amino acids length for eukaryotes protein. Most importantly, very little was known at that time. Having great support from my Ph.D. thesis advisor (Dr. Douglas C. Rees) and my collaborator (Dr. Ardem Patapoutian, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2021), I started my research journey to explore this cool channel family. In 2014, we solved the structure of a conserved soluble domain of Piezo by x-ray crystallography, and provide the first molecular glimpse to this mysterious channel [2].

Upon the completion of my Ph.D. (July 2016), I started teaching multiple bioscience subjects at local community colleges: General Biology (majors & non-majors), Microbiology, Bioinformatics, and several courses for the Biotechnology Certification Program at Pasadena City College: Introduction to Biotechnology, Basic Laboratory Techniques, Advanced Laboratory Techniques (Molecular Biology/ Biochemistry), and Mammalian Cell Culture Techniques. I also held an appointment as a researcher in Dr. Henry Lester’s lab at Caltech doing protein engineering to develop a biosensor for a psychiatric drug [3]. It’s cool stuff!

In Summer 2018, I accepted a full-time faculty offer at the Los Angeles Pierce College (Woodland Hills, CA), and will be mainly teaching Microbiology courses.

Current projects:

In addition to my teaching responsibility, I am currently working on 3 main projects:

1. Biotechnology training program
   The training program is intended to equip students with skills, both technical and supplemental, that are  necessary for working in a typical biotech industry. We recently received an NSF funding to establish a unique training program offering in-house student internships in protein biomanufacturing. Codename: ASPIRE (Advanced Student-centered Projects: Internship, Research, and Education).
2. Student research project
   We are developing various projects to provide community college students with hypothesis-driven or discovery-based research experience. Our projects range from protein engineering, formulation, DNA barcoding, phage isolation, and various microbial characterization. Students interested to join the group or looking for a mentor to do an independent research project can directly contact me.
3. Symbiotix Bioscience club
   Symbiotix is a tight knit community that have at least one thing in common: passion for interdisciplinary Bioscience. Our Bioscience club discusses various topics ranging from the latest development in genomics and gene editing (CRISPR), patents in Biotech industry, Hachimoji DNA, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and many others. Prior to COVID, we hosted various Biotech-related workshops, invited guest speakers, and arranged group trip to a local Biotech company or statewide conference. We strive to helping our members to secure research and/or internship opportunities. As a bonus, we sometimes play online games too….. I am apparently very bad on being an imposter…….
   If this club sounds interesting to you, feel free to reach out to me. I will connect you to the leadership team of the club!
4. Bioscience Office Hours (BOH)
   Bioscience Office Hours is our official YouTube channel. Here, we discuss a lot of recent Bioscience news, careers, techniques, mini-lectures in Bioscience, and other exciting development in the Bioscience Industry, particularly within the Greater Los Angeles area.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss any of these current projects, microbiology courses, or science in general!

Life outside the lab (is there such a thing?)

Besides science, music has been a significant part of my life. I grew up with music and have been a part of music band(s) …… until science took over. My favorite musical instrument is the bass guitar. Other instruments that I occasionally play are piano, guitar (acoustic and electric), drum, and oboe. I was also a part of a choir team in high school, and we competed at a national level

My favorite sport is soccer. My all-time favorite player is Zinedine Zidane. I played soccer as a kid, but I did not pursue it to become a professional soccer athlete. I was, however, on the volleyball team during my high school year. In recent years, I no longer play a team sport. Instead, I kept myself busy with ‘recreational’ sport-like activities, such as hiking, running, strength training at the gym, and occasional mud run. While ‘exploring’ nature, I recently got into photography. Taking beautiful pictures of the wildlife is priceless.

Lastly, I enjoy good games. My fellow graduate student introduced me to these awesome board games: “The Settlers of Catan” and “Ticket to Ride.” Currently, my favorite board game is the “Evolution” board game by North Star Games. I also play video games. My favorite video game series is the “Final Fantasy” and the classic “Resident Evil” (1-3) series. I also (…..used to) occasionally play online games such as Starcraft series and Guildwars 2.

Dr. K in the news:

OSTP Director, Dr. Arati Prabhakar, visited Pierce’s Biotech Program:

https://theroundupnews.com/2023/05/02/d-c-rep-visits-pierce/

Pierce Receives $2 Million Community Project Fund to Develop a Baccalaureate Degree Program in Biomanufacturing:

https://theroundupnews.com/2023/04/20/huge-milestone-for-pierce-college/

Quality/ GMP Biotech workshop:

https://calbiotechcareersezine.com/aron-kamajaya-gmp-workshop/

The Roundup LA Pierce Interview:

http://theroundupnews.com/2018/09/12/biology-professor-brings-impressive-resume/

 

Reference

1. ​Smith SC, Joshi KK, Zik JJ, Trinh K, Kamajaya A, Chien P, Ryan KR. Cell cycle-dependent adaptor complex for ClpXP-mediated proteolysis directly integrates phosphorylation and second messenger signals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2014. 111(39):14229-34.

2. Kamajaya A, Kaiser JT, Lee J, Reid M, Rees DC. The structure of a conserved piezo channel domain reveals a topologically distinct β sandwich fold. Structure, 2014. 22(10):1520-7.

3. Bera K, Kamajaya A, Shivange AV, Muthusamy AK, Nichols AL, Borden PM, Grant S, Jeon J, Bishara I, Chin TM, Cohen BN, Kim CH, Unger EK, Tian L, Marvin JS, Looger LL, Lester HA. Biosensors Show the Pharmacokinetics of S-Ketamine in the Endoplasmic Reticulum. Front Cell Neurosci. 2019. 13:499.