Hej! My name is Qinyang, for the past four years, I have been working here as a lab assistant for Jessica Abbott，where tending populations of Drosophila and a hermaphroditic flatworm were among my tasks. I’m thrilled to extend my stay in this lovely department, as I have started a PhD program with my main supervisor Charlie Cornwallis, and co-supervisors Maria Svensson Coelho and Karin Rengefors.
Why are some lives ’complex’, yet some ’simple’? What conditions facilitate single cells to abandon their individuality, their selfish reproductive interests, to be a part of something bigger? And why does such entity sometimes collapse, leaving cells to revert back to a solitary lifestyle? To explore these questions, I will be working on a wonderful green algae system, where a single clade encompasses a wide range of species varying both in their organizational complexity and reproduction strategies. I hope that through a combination of experimental and phylogenomic approaches, we will eventually, gain a clearer picture of the evolution of multicellularity.
In my spare time, I practice piano occasionally, but more often I go mountain biking in our mountain-less Skåne. I’m also a regular in our department’s Friday football games, still believing that enthusiasm can make up for the lack of skills.
I look forward to interact with you in the football pitch, or indeed other social occasions in the department!
