Yihang Zhao

Yihang Zhao

Undergraduate Student in the Chang lab (Soon to be a PhD student in Asher Cutter’s lab in UofT EEB, link is here: https://cutter.eeb.utoronto.ca/people/)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Toronto
25 Harbord St., Toronto, ON M5S 3G5
Email: yihang.zhao@mail.utoronto.ca

Current Research

  • Yihang studies how snakes, a group of animals with strong evolutionary constraints on its visual system, adapt to various habitats that have diverse visual ecological conditions through photoreceptor transmutation.
  • Yihang’s research focuses on the adaptive evolution of snake photoreceptor developmental genes by the application of molecular evolution analyses

Education

  • PhD Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2024 – Present)
  • BSc. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2020-2024)

Awards

  • EEB Admission Award (2024)
  • University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) (2023)

Experience:

  • Volunteer research assistant – University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology, Mary Silcox’s lab (2021-2022)
  • Workstudy research assistant – University of Toronto, Department of Ecology & Evolution, Belinda Chang’s lab (2022)
  • Independent Research in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB498) – University of Toronto, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Belinda Chang’s lab (2022-2023)
  • UTEA researcher – University of Toronto, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Belinda Chang’s lab (2023)
  • Research Assistant – University of Toronto, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Belinda Chang’s lab (2023-2024)

Oral and Poster Presentations

  • Zhao Y., Dong E., Chang B.S.W. 2023. Selective pressure shifts on snake visual developmental genes are associated with shifts in their visual ecology. Great Lakes Annual Meeting of Evolutionary Genomics. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. (Poster, Regional)
  • Zhao Y., Dong E., Chang B.S.W. 2023. Selective pressure shifts on snake visual developmental genes are associated with shifts in their visual ecology. 53rd Ontario Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution Colloquium. Western University, London, ON. (Poster, Provincial)
  • Zhao Y., Dong E., Chang B.S.W. 2023. Selective pressure shifts on snake visual developmental genes are associated with shifts in their visual ecology. Evolution and Vision. York University, Toronto, ON. (Oral, Institutional)
  • Zhao Y., Dong E., Chang B.S.W. 2023. Selective pressure shifts on snake visual developmental genes are associated with shifts in their visual ecology. Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Undergraduate Research Fair. University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. (Poster, Institutional)

Skills/Qualifications:

  • Trained to perform Next Generation Sequencing and variant detection of yeast using Illumina sequencing by synthesis (SBS) technique and Galaxy workflow platform. University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine
  • Trained to perform random mutagenesis using transposon and PCR site-directed mutagenesis. University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine
  • Trained to do gene annotation mapping using the software Liftoff. University of Toronto, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Chang Lab
  • Trained to do selection analysis, ancestral reconstruction, and molecular clock analysis using software PAML, BEAST, HyPhy, and PG-BSM. University of Toronto, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Chang Lab
  • Trained to do CT image 3D reconstruction using 3D Slicer and Amira-Avizo Software University of Toronto Scarborough, Department of Anthropology, Silcox Lab
  • Programming: Python, R, matlab.