Yen-Ping Hsueh, Ph.D.
Curriculum Vitae
Yen-Ping Hsueh was born in Taipei and received her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the National Taiwan University, majoring in Plant Pathology and Microbiology. In 2003, she joined the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University, USA, for her PhD and stayed on as a postdoctoral fellow under the guidance of Joseph Heitman. There, she studied the genetics and evolution of the sexual cycle and the mating-type locus of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. In 2010, she relocated to Caltech, USA, where she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Paul Sternberg’s lab, investigating the predatory-prey relationship between Caenorhabditis elegans and the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora. In 2015, Yen-Ping Hsueh established her independent laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica in Taiwan, where she was a professor. Yen-Ping Hsueh has been a Director at the Max Planck Institute of Biology Tübingen since 2024.
Research Interests
Yen-Ping Hsueh and her team focus on understanding cross-congregational predator-prey interactions between different kingdoms of organisms and the co-evolution of carnivorous fungi and nematodes. The team aims to understand how the model nematode C. elegans senses and responds to predatory fungi. The goal is to unravel the mysteries behind predation mechanisms and evolution in the fungal kingdom. The researchers are also interested in understanding how predator-prey interactions influence coevolution and adaptation in fungi and nematodes.
Selected Awards
Yen-Ping Hsueh received the Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science 2022 Award in the Most Promising Young Scientist category and is a member of the EMBO Global Investigator Network and Young Investigator Program.