HomeDate: 2025-12-10
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) announced its 2025 cohort of Global Investigators (12 awardees) on December 9, 2025. Drs. Ko-Hsuan Chen (Associate Research Fellow) and Yi-Jyun Luo (Assistant Research Fellow) from Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan have been selected. Established in 2019, the EMBO Global Investigator Network supports early-career research teams in partner countries including Taiwan, and promotes international collaboration and scientific exchange.
Dr. Ko-Hsuan Chen's research focuses on exploring the diverse roles fungi play in ecosystems, with particular emphasis on symbiotic partnerships between fungi and photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria, bryophytes, and ferns. While fungal ecology research has predominantly concentrated on temperate and cold regions, understanding of fungal symbioses in subtropical and tropical environments remains limited. Moreover, the photosynthetic organisms her laboratory studies, though ubiquitous in nature, have often been overlooked in fungal symbiosis research. Inspired by field observations, her research team integrates data from amplicon sequencing and transcriptomics, complemented by microscopic examination, to advance understanding of fungal symbioses from the perspectives of biodiversity, species interactions, and community ecology.
Dr. Chen wants to thank her laboratory members for discovering research questions with her from the forests. She is grateful to the center directors, administrative staff, and colleagues for creating a supportive work environment, and to Academia Sinica for its administrative and resource support. “Symbiosis research requires integrating expertise from different fields to fully understand symbiotic phenomena from multiple perspectives,” Chen noted. Joining the EMBO Global Investigator Network will enable her to expand collaborative opportunities and provide flexibility for team members to participate in conferences, broaden their horizons, and establish collaborations at early stages of their research. Finally, Chen wishes to thank Taiwan's forests whose rich biodiversity and biological interactions provide unique research opportunities. “We hope to continue uncovering the fascinating stories of fungal symbioses within Taiwan's forests,” she saidLuo’s group integrates comparative genomics and functional transcriptomics to investigate the evolution of marine invertebrates, particularly corals and acoels. The group uses chromosome-level genome architecture as a framework to study the origins of symbiosis, genome stability and environmental adaptation, and develops bioinformatics approaches to resolve key evolutionary events and animal relationships. Recent studies include reconstructing the monophyly of lophophorates through chromosomal evolution and examining the evolutionary basis of calcification in stony corals. Since 2022, the group has established collaborations with research teams in Europe and Japan. Participation in the EMBO Global Investigator Network will strengthen these collaborations and broaden international exchange in marine biodiversity and genome evolution.
"I am honored to join the EMBO Global Investigator Network," said Luo. “This will allow us to strengthen our existing collaborations and work more closely with colleagues in Europe, Japan, and beyond. I am grateful to my research group for their dedication, and to our Center for providing an environment that offers both stable support and academic freedom. This has enabled our work on questions central to understanding the evolution of life. In the coming years, we hope to contribute novel approaches and new perspectives to evolutionary genomics through international collaboration.”
EMBO is an organization of more than 2,100 life scientists dedicated to supporting researchers and promoting international scientific exchange. The Global Investigator Network, established in 2019, provides four years of support for early-career group leaders, including an annual award of 7,000 euros to foster international collaboration, scientific meetings, and research exchange. Through the cooperation framework between Taiwan and EMBO, selected investigators also join the EMBO Young Investigator Network, strengthening connections with the European research community and enabling research teams in Taiwan to broaden their international collaborations.
For more information: https://www.embo.org/press-releases/twelve-scientists-become-embo-global-investigators/
