Principle Investigator

Yan Wang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Genomics
Primary affiliation: Biological Sciences
Graduate affiliations: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; Environmental Sciences
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.

 

 

Paige Van Rooy is an M.Sc. student in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences (DPES). She completed her honours B.Sc. in Wildlife Biology and Conservation at the University of Guelph. Her M.Sc. thesis project focuses on mosquito-fungus interactions.

 

Undergraduate researchers

 

Haider Alsafar is a BIOD98 Thesis Project Student working on aquatic insect gut microbiome and environmental fungal genome sequencing in the lab. Haider is pursuing a Specialist in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology. His hobbies involve video games, watching shows and being curious about everything.

 

 

Sumhithaa Sriram is a fieldwork assistant focusing on a fungal inventory project 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.

 

 

Sarah Fatima is an undergraduate student pursuing a specialist in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology CO-OP at UofT. She is a research assistant in the lab working on fungal culture curation and the establishment of fungal digital profiles. Sarah enjoys reading, going for walks, and volunteering for Stem Cell donation.

 

Jessica Cho-Ah-Ying has recently finished her undergraduate Honours B.Sc. specializing in Integrative Biology with a double minor in Linguistics and Psychology. She is a future M.Sc. candidate in WangLab working on the identification, profiling, and phylogeny of horizontally transferred genes (HGTs) in mosquito-associated fungi. In her spare time, she finds fascination in video games, arts and crafts, and documentaries. Outside the lab, she is a full-time bird mom to three conures.

 

 

Jay Lu is a summer visiting undergraduate student from Western University (major in Medical Sciences program). He is working on computing three-dimensional models of fungal genomes in the lab. Jay can be found lifting weights or playing volleyball during his leisure time.

 

Alumni

Graduate Students
Shal Chaudhary, 2020-2023, Master of Sciences (CGS-M & PSD awardees)

Undergraduate Students
Yibing Wu, 2022 Summer, University of Toronto Excellence Awardee
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
Huai Shiou Shih, 2021 Summer, BIOD95 student (Now at UTM 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