19 February 2024 – Like many scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic, EMBO Young Investigator Yen-Ping Hsueh missed the networking benefits of face-to-face contact. So, when she was invited to join an EMBO delegation on a multi-city visit to India to deliver seminars on her studies of predator-prey interactions of carnivorous fungi and roundworms, she jumped at the opportunity.
“Roundworms, also known as nematodes, are the most abundant animal on the planet, and have adapted to almost every ecosystem: from ocean trenches to Himalayan plateaus,” explains Hsueh, who is an associate professor at Academia Sinica, the National Academy of Taiwan, based in Taipei. “However, they can fall victim to some improbable predators – carnivorous fungi that lay traps that paralyse them ready for consumption. We want to understand the mechanisms driving these unique interactions from the perspectives of both the fungi and the worms, including how traps are developed, how worms get caught, how they respond when they encounter a predator, and how these interactions shape co-evolution.
“The EMBO Young Investigator Programme has provided wonderful experiences that have enabled me to develop international connections that have opened up new avenues in my research. I have also benefited from training courses in lab management and scientific writing, and even had the chance to co-organize workshops for students and junior faculty. Thanks to these collaborations, training and networking opportunities available to us on the vibrant Academia Sinica campus, almost any experiment we can dream up, we can make happen.”
