I am a final year undergraduate biology student at NUS. My motherland is China and my hometown is Zhengzhou, located in Henan Province. It is a pain staying away from home, but it is fun to work in this lab.
Academic background
Honours Project:
I am now working on my Honours project. I will test DNA barcoding for Metazoa based on 60,000 COI sequences retrieved from Genbank (link to “DNA Barcoding of All Metazoans”). So I am staring at my computer most of the time. To relieve my eye pain and prevent my hands from degenerating, I also do some emperical work. I am doing two case studies on DNA barcoding in the fighting fishes (Betta) and the Borneo suckers (Gastromyzon). Betta is a diverse group of fishes and I will test the effectiveness of DNA barcodes in delimiting and identifying species using molecular data (partial COI). Betta can have astonishingly colorful fin displays and they are much loved by aquarists. Thus, there is not only an academic but also a commercial interest in examining the taxonomy of Betta by comparing morphology and molecular data. The Borneo sucker fishes (Gastromyzon) are endemic to Borneo. They are characterized by highly modified morphology with pectoral and pelvic fins forming sucker-like structures which enable them to hook on the substrate. For Gastromyzon, I am testing whether all species have their own DNA Barcode and study when and how this specialized morphology has evolved. I am trying to answer these questions by constructing their phylogeny. Both projects are in collaboration with Dr. Tan Heok Hui, one of the scientists who discovered the smallest freshwater fish in the world.
I have also carried out an UROPS (link: Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project in Science) in Prof. Alex Ip’s lab on the “Vitamin C Synthesis in African Lungfishes and Asian Freshwater Stingray”. African lungfishes possess lung-like structures and are able to survive in air by sustaining prolonged aestivation. They are believed to be closely related to the first group of land tetropods. Asian freshwater stingray is among the very few species freshwater water elasmobranches. The fish is able to tolerate increasing salinity up to 30ppt. This physiological trait makes is a valuable organism for studying the physiology of stress and the role of vitamin C. From my experiences, what I would recommend for distressing is to go into hibernation. If you cannot do it, eat more oranges.
Lastly, I did two ISMs (Independent Study Project 1). In the first one I tested the performance of DNA Barcoding for Birds for different genes. For the second one, I reviewed the current literature on peat swamps in Southeast Asia. Peat swamps have been conventionally considered to be dirty and useless. But recently research has been revealing their values in harboring unusual biodiversity and reducing global warming through high carbon storage capacity.
Personal interests
I like collecting insects (not flies!) and keeping small animals. I used to breed or keep all kinds of creatures at home like rabbits, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, cats, dogs, parrots, chickens, ducks, goldfish, silk worms, crickets, grasshoppers, snaisl and every once in a while even an eagle. However, the goldfish were always dying and the silkworm moths rarely emerged from cocoons. But at least the silk was really colourful. Snails refused to extend their bodies out of the shell despite the fact that I gave them water. My mom told me some curse which was supposed to lure them out. But it did not work. I like to swim and occasionally jog. I used to be fond of reading philosophy books.
Work experience
I taught a few classes for the Biology Olympiad training in National Junior College and I have been teaching science for the Singapore Chinese Girls School (Primary) - Teaching is far more difficult and challenging than learning!!
Family
I’ve got great parents and an inspiring sister who is doing her Ph.D in the U.S. That means I was the “extra one” according to China’s one-child policy. But now both my sister and I are studying abroad and help to reduce population pressure in China. So my parents should ask for the fines back! My dad just retired and is now operating a pig farm where I occasionally collect sepsid flies.
