Dr. Yen Ping Hsueh
Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Director, Max Planck Institute for Biology Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany
Talk Title
Genetic Mechanisms Underlying the Evolution of Nematode-Killing Apparatus in Pleurotus ostreatus
Biography
Yen-Ping Hsueh was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Biology has always been her favorite subject in school so she followed her interest and majored in Plant Pathology and Microbiology at the National Taiwan University as an undergraduate. She received BSc (2001) and MSc (2003) degrees, and moved to Duke University to pursue her PhD under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Heitman. Her PhD work mainly focused on the sexual cycle of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. After receiving her PhD in Molecu-lar Genetics and Microbiology from Duke University in 2008, she continued to work with Heitman briefly and then moved to Caltech to start her postdoctoral training with Dr. Paul W. Sternberg in 2010. Her postdoctoral work investigated the interactions between nematode-trapping fungi and the model nematode C. elegans. In 2015, Hsueh returned to Taiwan, to begin her independent career at the Institute of Molecu-lar Biology in Academia Sinica where she is currently Research Fellow. Her laboratory studies the predator–prey interactions between carnivorous fungi and the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Members of the Hsueh lab explore different aspects of the biology of these predator–prey systems and are striving to understand the mechanisms that underlie their interactions and coevolution. They hope to harness the nematocidal potential of the carnivorous fungi, which will facilitate the discovery of a novel treatment or biocontrol method to combat parasitic nematode infections in plants, animals, and humans in the future. Hsueh has been recognized as an EMBO Global Investigator, EMBO Young Investigator, and Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science Young Talent Award and in 2024, she was recruited by the Max Planck Society to become a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tubingen in Tubingen Germany.