PhD Research — University of Georgia (2020–2026)

Institute of Bioinformatics, Tsai Lab

I study lineage-specific genes and gene duplication in Populus (poplar trees), with a focus on understanding how these genes contribute to stress responses and perennial-specific traits.

• 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, Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture

• 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 (Prunus persica) 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; presented at the International Horticultural Congress, Istanbul (2018); first prize at NTU graduate student research poster competition (2019)

See all publications.