Principle Investigator

Yan Wang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Genomics
Primary affiliation: Biological Sciences
Graduate affiliations: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; Environmental Sciences; Cell & Systems Biology
University of Toronto
Office: SW542 at Scarborough Campus
Email: yanxw.wang@utoronto.ca

ORCID Profile:0000-0002-5950-8904
ResearchGate; Google Scholar; Publons

Graduate students

Huimei Yang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB). She completed her Honours B.Sc. in Integrative Biology at the University of Toronto (UTSC) and M.Sc. in Bioinformatics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong prior joining the WangLab. Huimei's thesis is about the genome evolution and gene expression profiles of Harpellales fungi using long-read sequencing data.

 

 

Eric Wilson is an MSc student in the EEB Department. His thesis focuses on investigating a species complex of insect-gut associated fungi using genomic approaches. In his free time, he likes to work out, listen to music, go on random walks, and play video games.

 

 

Sixtine Dietsch is a Master of Environmental Sciences student in the conservation and biodiversity program. She completed her B.Sc in Biology at McGill University and had research experience in fish and plant laboratories. In her spare time, Sixtine likes to hike and spend time in nature.

 

 

Undergraduate researchers

 

Sumhithaa Sriram is an Honour Thesis student and a fieldwork assistant focusing on fungal diversity and single-cell genomics in the lab. Sumhithaa is currently pursuing a double major in Biochemistry and Neuroscience. In her free time, Sumhithaa likes reading novels, watching anime, and playing table tennis.

 

 

Dennis Liu is an Honors Thesis student in the lab, focusing on the impact of microbial fungi on insect development. He is enrolled in the Specialist Cell and Molecular Biology program at UTSG. Outside of academics, Dennis enjoys spending time with friends, reading, drawing, listening to music, and playing video games.

 

 

Erienne Marasigan is a 2025 TD Undegraduate Research Fellow in the lab working on microscopy of microbial fungi found in Rouge National Urban Park. Erienne is in the Specialist of Human Biology program and likes to read, tinker with miniature model kits, and watch movies with family and friends.

 

 

Bomin Kim is a second-year undergraduate student at UTSC, studying Computer Science, Statistics, and Biology, passionate about data science and bioinformatics. Bomin is a research assistant currently helping an ongoing fungal database project. In her free time, Bomin enjoys singing and exploring creative instant noodle recipes.

 

 

Rodrigo Lusa is a Mitacs summer intern from PUCPR (Brazil). His project involves trichomycetes protists and techniques such as protein induction, proteomics, and crosslinking to explore complex molecular interactions. In his free time, he enjoy drawing, playing guitar, watching series, gaming, and going for walks outdoors.

 

 

Xinyue Wang is a 2025 Mitacs intern from Peking University (China), studying Biological Sciences. Her research interest focus on the interactions between the host and its symbionts in holobiont organisms. Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking and birding with a camera.

 

Alumni

Graduate Students

• Shal Chaudhary, 2020-2023, M.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (CGS-M & PSD awardees; Now at Impact Assessment Agency of Canada).
  
• Paige Van Rooy, 2022-2023, M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences.
  
• Jessica Cho-Ah-Ying, 2023-2024, M.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
  
• Wendy Zhang, 2023-2024, Work-Study graduate student on Scientific Illustration project.
  

Undergraduate Students


• Livia Del Bo, 2025 Winter, BIOB98 student
  
• Esme Padgett, 2024 Summer, Mitacs visiting student from Durham University (UK)
  
• Isabella Moreira, 2024 Summer, Mitacs visiting student from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (Mexico)
  
• Maria Zimmermann, 2024 Summer, Volunteer
  
• Jessica Pinto, 2024 Winter, BIOB98 student
  
• Stephanie Chan, 2023 Fall, BIOB98 student
  
• Yue Wu, 2023 Fall, Mitacs visiting student from Wuhan University (China)
  
• Malaika Baig, 2023 Summer, Work-Study student
  
• Sofia Chughtai, 2023 Summer, Work-Study student
  
• Monique Ngan, 2023 Summer, Work-Study student
  
• Jay Lu, 2023 Summer, visiting student from Western University
  
• Haider Alsafar, 2022-2023, BIOD98 student (Now at University of Toronto M.Sc. program)
  
• Sarah Fatima, 2022-2023, Work-Study, BIOB98/99 student
  
• Yibing Wu, 2022 Summer, University of Toronto Excellence Awardee (Now at University of Hongkong Ph.D. program)
  
• Maija Lehn, 2022 Summer, TD Undergraduate Research Fellow
  
• Lynn Li, 2022 Summer, Data Sciences Undergraduate Scholar
  
• Renato Sasso, 2022 Summer, BIOB98 student
  
• Yue Xia, 2022 Winter, BIOB98 student (Now at Memorial University Ph.D. program)
  
• Zac Cornaby, 2022 Winter, BIOD95 student
  
• Hania Siddiqui, 2022 Winter, BIOB98 student
  
• Joaquin Fogel, 2022 Winter, BIOB98 student
  
• Sidra Fallaha, 2022 Winter, BIOB98 student
  
• Nicole Howes, 2021 Fall, visiting student from University of Waterloo (Now at University of British Columbia M.Sc. program)
  
• Huai Shiou Shih, 2021 Summer, BIOD95 student (Now at University of Toronto - Mississauga M.Sc. program)
  
• Nishang Lin, 2020-2021, BIOD98 student (Now at Imperial College London M.Sc. program)
  
• Aliza Khaitin, 2020 Fall, BIOB98 student
  
• Asad Hassan, 2020 Summer, BIOD95 student
  
• Nazia Nusrat, 2020 Summer, BIOD95 student