Huang MEGA Lab (Yin-Tse Huang, NCKU) — Microbial Ecology, Genomics, and Applications. Fungal ecology, antifungal resistance, beetle–fungus symbiosis, nanopore genomics. https://ythuangmyco.github.io/ Antifungal susceptibility of 200+ Scedosporium/Lomentospora isolates — JAC - Now published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (first author Dr. Shang-Yi Lin): MIC testing of 200+ clinical and environmental Scedosporium and Lomentospora isolates across 10 species and 6 antifungals shows that susceptibility is not just species-dependent but strongly strain-dependent (up to 8–16× within a species) — while the new... Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-07-20-olorofim-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-07-20-olorofim-paper/ Purpureocillium takamizusanense — Scientific Reports - Led by Pei-Hsin Lo, we show that Purpureocillium takamizusanense, isolated from naturally infected lychee stink bugs in Taiwanese longan orchards, kills its natural host as well as coffee berry borers and southern yellow thrips — matching the star biocontrol agents Beauveria and Metarhizium. Being phylogenetically distant from them, it adds... Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-06-09-purpureocillium-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-06-09-purpureocillium-paper/ Nutritional strategies of ambrosia fungi — Environmental Microbiology - Congratulations to postdoc Khaled Nayil on another paper! Comparing fungal crops and non-crops across four families, we asked what nutritionally makes a good ambrosia crop — and found no common recipe: each lineage brought its own metabolic toolkit to the partnership. Evolution didn’t reinvent the same wheel four times; it... Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-05-12-ambrosia-stoichiometry-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-05-12-ambrosia-stoichiometry-paper/ New nameplate, new chapter in Tainan - The nameplate is up. From February 2026 the lab moves to the Department of Biotechnology and Bioindustry Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, reborn as the MEGA Lab — Microbial Ecology, Genomics, and Applications. Five years of strain collections and hard-won pipelines come along for the ride. 上門牌了。 經過五年的通勤，終於回台南了。今年2/1開始，我來到成大生技產業系服務。雖然還是從底層開始，但從本來100公里開車通勤，變成10公里腳踏車健身通勤，已經很感恩了。 人生少有第二次setup的機會，經過5年的磨練，這次比較知道自己要做什麼、能做什麼，比較能把經費花在刀口上（雖然還是不夠），不會想包山包海都攬在實驗室裡做。 新的實驗室發展主軸，和AI討論以後，選了個很酷炫的名字–MEGA... Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-13-mega-lab-ncku/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-13-mega-lab-ncku/ How urbanization reshapes soil microbial communities - Urbanization alters soil properties and reshapes belowground microbial communities, yet the extent and mechanisms of these changes remain poorly characterized in subtropical regions. This project investigates how urbanization gradients affect soil microbial diversity, community assembly, and functional potential across Taiwan. We collect soils from sites spanning four land-use categories—forestry, agricultural,... Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-12-project3/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-12-project3/ Development of entomopathogenic fungi for sustainable biocontrol - The lychee stink bug (Tessaratoma papillosa) causes huge yield losses in lychee and longan orchards across Taiwan and Southeast Asia, yet sustainable alternatives to chemical pesticides remain limited. Our research uses Purpureocillium takamizusanense TCTeb01 — a locally isolated entomopathogenic fungus with demonstrated field efficacy and confirmed biosafety — as a... Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-11-project2/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-11-project2/ Ecology and antifungal resistance of opportunistic fungal pathogens - Invasive fungal infections cause significant global mortality, yet therapeutic options remain limited to three mechanistic drug classes. Our research uses intrinsically multidrug-resistant Scedosporium and Lomentospora species — WHO priority pathogens — as model systems to study constitutive resistance mechanisms and identify novel therapeutic targets. Through international collaborations, we are building... Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-10-project1/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2026-02-10-project1/ Lab visit to the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Bangkok - First trip to Thailand, spent visiting Mahidol University’s Faculty of Tropical Medicine — warm hosts, non-stop food comas, a tour of a floor-sized BSL-3 facility, and the start of what we hope is a long research collaboration. (Our current visiting PhD students from Mahidol are part of the harvest!) 第一次泰國,，第一次曼谷，就獻給馬希頓大學的參訪惹。感謝熱帶醫學系的Natt的熱情接待和訊息交流，每天都吃到food... Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-12-17-mahidol-visit/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-12-17-mahidol-visit/ Dimorphism across Ophiostomataceae — Fungal Biology - Postdoc Khaled Nayil’s new paper in Fungal Biology maps yeast–hyphae dimorphism across the Ophiostomataceae, combining culture experiments, literature synthesis, and phylogenetics. Dimorphism turns out to be the ancestral trait of the family, repeatedly gained and lost — tracking the ambrosia symbiotic lifestyle, not pathogenicity. [實驗室新文章發表啦] 真菌的雙型性和有性繁殖一直是我很有興趣，但是還沒(或是說沒能力)切入的跑道。實驗室的博後 Khaled Nayil來了之後，完成了很多和真菌生理變化的研究，這是其中的一個篇章。不久的將來，應該還有一兩篇，再跟大家分享。 真菌的酵母/菌絲雙型性是他們重要的適應機制，這讓它們能在不同環境條件下切換形態來提升生存適應性。很多病原真菌利用此特性達成致病力:可能是在宿主體內以酵母形態逃避免疫系統，或是轉變為菌絲形態進行侵染與擴散。在Ophiostomataceae這個科裡面，包含許多種具雙型性的物種，如荷蘭榆樹病病原菌及和菌蠹蟲共生的ambrosia fungi，這些生態棲位截然不同的真菌的共同點是都使用了雙型性來達成它們在環境中持續生存的策略。過往研究大多只聚焦在荷蘭榆樹病的病原菌與環境因子的關係（畢竟人家造成生態浩劫真的比較嚴重），還沒有跨物種比較以及納入演化觀點的研究。Khaled這篇文章整合實際的實驗觀察、文獻回顧和系統發育分析，測試多個Ophiostomataceae這個科裡面不同菌株的形態轉換能力，並重建雙型性的演化歷史及其與生態習性的關聯。我們發現雙型性為該科的祖徵... Mon, 29 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-09-29-dimorphism-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-09-29-dimorphism-paper/ Our first PhD, completed in three years - A huge congratulations to our first PhD student, Khaled, for successfully completing his doctoral work in a remarkable three years. We are so proud! Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-06-27-khaled-phd/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-06-27-khaled-phd/ Second Medical Mycology paper on Taiwan's soil survey - Our upgraded island-wide soil survey of the opportunistic pathogens Scedosporium and Lomentospora is out in Medical Mycology. With 11 soil chemistry factors and the Human Footprint Index (found by 吳昕懋) in the model, only human impact predicted where these fungi occur — nitrogen, pH and friends showed no correlation. 這禮拜很幸運，第二篇被接受的文章。是關於Scedosporium和Lomentospora這些真菌的環境調查，這類一直都是我們有在關注的伺機性病原菌。... Fri, 07 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-03-07-scedosporium-distribution-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-03-07-scedosporium-distribution-paper/ Genome diversification of ambrosia fungi — The ISME Journal - Four years after our metabolomic take on the beetle–fungus symbiosis, the genomic sequel lands in The ISME Journal: despite ~50 million years of partnership, ambrosia fungi from four independent origins show no unified evolutionary direction — their genomes stay remarkably wild, nothing like the domesticated crops of leaf-cutter ants or... Mon, 03 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-03-03-ambrosia-genome-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2025-03-03-ambrosia-genome-paper/ An interactive IGS1 database for cultivar identification - Led by 歐玠皜, we sequenced full-length rDNA and IGS regions of 41 Taiwanese shiitake strains by Nanopore and built an interactive online database integrating 317 IGS1 sequences from Taiwan, Japan, and China — upload your sequence and find out which cultivar you have. Published in the Journal of Basic Microbiology.... Wed, 06 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2024-11-06-shiitake-database-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2024-11-06-shiitake-database-paper/ Lab paper in Heliyon - Which preservation buffer keeps mushroom DNA happiest? Comparing RNAlater and DESS across 320 field and market samples, we found the two perform essentially the same — unless your extraction protocol includes freeze-drying, where DESS’s salt crystals will make you cry. Published in Heliyon, led by Yu-Ja Li with 歐玠皜 and... Sun, 25 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2024-08-25-dna-preservation-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2024-08-25-dna-preservation-paper/ a comprehensive survey throughout Taiwan - Finally with almost 10 years of survey of these opportunistic fungi in Taiwan. We present their distribution map throughout Taiwan. More things to come for sure :) Check out the paper: https://academic.oup.com/mmy/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mmy/myad041/7120043！ Thu, 13 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2023-04-13-scedosporium-paper/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2023-04-13-scedosporium-paper/ Get funded! - Congrats on Silmi Yusri Rahmadani and Khaled Abdrabo for securing the Elite Program Scholarship from the Ministry of Education of Taiwan for their PhD study! Great success! Thu, 27 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-10-27-students-awarded/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-10-27-students-awarded/ Summer research of college students - 吳昕懋 and 曾雯渟 attending the poster contest of the summer student research program. Very proud of them. Keep up with the good works! Wed, 12 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-10-12-students-posters/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-10-12-students-posters/ Welcome! - Welcome our new members in the lab, Guan Jie Phang , Silmi Yusri Rahmadani, and Khaled Abdrabo. Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-09-30-new-lab-members/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-09-30-new-lab-members/ KMU – DOrSU joint online meeting - Yin-Tse Huang was invited to talk about ambrosia beetles/fungi and their adaptation to the mutualistic lifestyle in the joint meeting with Davao Oriental State University. Much appreciated for the invitation Thu, 02 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-06-02-KMU-DOrSU_meeting/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-06-02-KMU-DOrSU_meeting/ Biology and Genetics of Fungi - Yin-Tse Huang was invited to give a lecture on introducing the ambrosia symbiosis in the class, Biology and Genetics of Fungi, hosted by Pedro Gonçalves. We had a very interactive class and hands-on labratory observation on fungal specimens! Much appreciated for the invitation. Photo credit: Pedro G. Photo credit: Pedro... Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 +0800 https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-05-18-NCKUlecture/ https://ythuangmyco.github.io/2022-05-18-NCKUlecture/