I’m a PhD candidate at the Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia, where I study lineage-specific genes and gene duplication in Populus (poplar trees). My work spans large-scale RNA-seq reprocessing, comparative transcriptomics, phylogenetics, and genome-wide protein structure annotation — with a focus on reproducibility and HPC scalability.
I received my MSc in Horticultural Science from National Taiwan University, where I studied mycorrhiza-enhanced salt tolerance in rice and led RNA-seq experiments on sex determination in bitter gourd. I hold a BS in Agriculture, also from NTU.
Research Experience
PhD Dissertation Research — University of Georgia (2020–2026) Tsai Lab, Institute of Bioinformatics
- Reprocessed large-scale community RNA-seq data (raw FASTQ to differential expression) to characterize stress-responsive expression across developmental conditions
- Contributed to Populus VariantDB v3.2, a community bioinformatics resource facilitating CRISPR gRNA design and functional genomics research (Tree Physiology, 2025)
- Applied comparative transcriptomics and phylogenetics to identify a perennial-specific sulfate transporter subgroup associated with lignification (Tree Physiology, 2025)
- Built end-to-end workflows for genome-wide protein structure annotation with emphasis on reproducibility, modularity, and HPC scalability (Snakemake, SLURM)
MSc Research — National Taiwan University (2017–2019) Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology Lab
- Performed comparative transcriptome analysis revealing mechanisms underlying mycorrhiza-enhanced salt tolerance in rice (co-first-author, Frontiers in Plant Science, 2022)
- Automated high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis output processing with custom scripts, streamlining genotyping for a peach chilling requirement study (IJMS, 2020)
- Designed RNA-seq experiments and identified genome-wide MADS-box gene family to study gibberellin-induced sex determination in bitter gourd (Int. Horticultural Congress, Istanbul, 2018)
5 peer-reviewed publications — see my Google Scholar.
Technical Profile
Bioinformatics & genomics: RNA-seq pipelines (STAR, HISAT2, DESeq2, edgeR), sequence analysis, phylogenetics, Snakemake, HPC/SLURM
Applied AI & engineering: LLM API integration, agentic pipelines, Python packaging, Docker, REST APIs, dashboards (Streamlit, R Shiny), IoT prototyping (Raspberry Pi, ESP32)
Languages: Python · R · Bash · JavaScript · C/C++
Beyond Research
I enjoy applying technology to build community. As a volunteer Technology Consultant at the Taiwanese Young Researchers Association (Project TYRA), I architected a mentor-mentee matching platform that scaled from 274 to 700+ annual participants — the organization now collaborates formally with Fulbright and government education agencies. I also organize the IOB seminar series at UGA as part of BIGSA, bringing in speakers like Josh Starmer (StatQuest), Ben Langmead (creator of Bowtie2), and the Nature Technology Editor.
Outside of research I lead hackathon teams at HATCH and build side projects at the intersection of AI and creative tooling.