Huiqing Yeo

Huiqing has an affinity for working with insects that suck (insects with sucking mouthparts). Her first love is assassin bugs, which she worked on for her undergraduate research.

Currently, she is working on mosquitoes for her PhD, specifically on studying the effects of habitat change on the movement of mosquito populations.

When not in the lab, Huiqing enjoys reading, doing a bit of art and playing tsum tsum. She hopes to see hummingbirds one day.

Yen Yi Tan

Yen Yi obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the National University of Singapore in 2017 and a Master of Research degree from Imperial College London in 2018. Her patriotic desire to contribute to Singapore’s avian research motivated her return to NUS to pursue her PhD in September 2019.

Intrigued by the avian migration phenomenon and the chubby appeal of plovers, Yen Yi hopes to combine these two interests in her PhD project, where she aims to study the population genetics of Common Redshanks (Tringa totanus) and elucidate its migratory strategy in genetic detail using Next Generation Sequencing. She is also currently working on a population genetics project studying Lesser Sand Plovers (Charadrius mongolus).

Yen Yi’s conflicting loves for snacks and fitness have resulted in a well-stocked desk space, from which she altruistically distributes food to her lab mates in desperate attempts to alleviate her calorific addictions. In her free time, she can usually be found Googling pictures of her favourite plover the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), playing basketball, and planning her next bird banding holiday.

Mohammad Irham

Mohammad Irham obtained his bachelor’s from the University of Padjadjaran, Indonesia. He continued for a master’s degree at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He has been working at Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), Research Center for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, soon after graduation. During his time in MZB, Mohammad Irham conducted fieldwork in some parts of Indonesia to do bird researches, including collecting and ringing.

In 2021, Mohammad Irham joins Avian Evolution Laboratory. He is interested in avian population genetics as it may significantly elucidate the life history, evolution, systematics, and taxonomy status of Indonesian birds. He is currently working on the white-eye (Zosterops sp.) from Sulawesi.

Melody Wu Meng Yue

Melody has a keen interest in using genomics techniques to study evolutionary biology and biogeography. Melody studied the population genomics of Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) populations in Singapore using whole genome resequencing data for her honours thesis and currently continuing the Red Junglefowl project as a research assistant.

Melody loves to paint with watercolours in her free time. However, she is still figuring out how to paint something that resembles a bird to other people.

Keita Sin

Keita is working on a project to cast light onto the complicated phylogeny of Asian flycatchers, in particular those from the genus Muscicapa. Generally referred to as “little brown jobs” by birdwatchers, humans struggle to identify them in the field. The birds, however, are able to tell each other apart, and he hopes to unravel the history behind their speciation.

His favourite bird so far is the Pacific Swift (Apus pacificus), but he is sometimes unfaithful when Needletails (Hirundapus sp.) fly by.

Wei Xuan

Wei Xuan is an honours student currently working on investigating the dawn choruses of Little Spiderhunters (Arachnothera longirostra) in Singapore and Brunei. By analysing bioacoustic data, he hopes to detect if there is a regional variation in activity patterns and breeding seasons of Little Spiderhunters in the two regions.
Wei Xuan hopes to one day backpack through South America and aspires to be able to speak Spanish as well as the natives (hopefully).

Keren Sadanandan

Keren did her honours project in the Avian Evolution Lab. She used mitochondrial markers to look at the population genetics of the Near-Threatened Short-tailed Babbler (Pellorneum malaccense) in Singapore. Her results showed fragmentation between sub-populations of Short-tailed Babbler in Northern and Southern Central Catchment Nature Reserve and showed that the population in Singapore was genetically impoverished in contrast to a comparable population from Borneo.

Keren worked as an RA in the lab, where she is involved in multiple projects including the resolution of swiftlet phylogeny, discovery of the Northern Boobook as a winter migrant to Singapore and the identification of retrotransposons in avian genomes. She loves Chinese food and sniffing Tiger Balm. Keren is now doing her PhD at Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, where she is now doing functional work on Aerodramus swiftlets. She is still collaborating with the Avian Evolution Lab for this project.

Nathaniel Ng

Nathaniel pursued his PhD degree in the Avian EvolutionLab. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree (Life Science) from theNational University of Singapore in 2008, then subsequently obtained his Masters degree in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California (Santa Barbara) in2013.

Nathaniel utilizes bioacoustics and Next Generation Sequencing techniques to investigate how recent earth history has affected the divergence, evolution, and biogeography of the avifauna of Wallacea. Wallacea, besides being one of the world’s most tectonically-active regions, has also been profoundly affected by sea level fluctuations caused by Pleistocene glaciation events that have occurred throughout the past 2.8 million years. These fluctuations have resulted in the repeated formation and disappearance of land bridges between landmasses here. By gathering a wealth of information from across whole bird genomes and by analyzing bird vocalizations, Nathaniel investigates the evolutionary mechanisms that have resulted in modern-day Wallacean bird diversity.

In his free time, Nathaniel loves exercising, singing in the shower, and dreaming about a world in which chocolate does not make people fat.

Yan Ming Tan

Yan Ming worked on the evolutionary relationships of the endangered Black Partridge (Melanoperdix niger) and Long-billed Partridge (Rhizothera longirostris) as the relationships of these 2 poorly known species remain contentious. However, since DNA materials of these shy and elusive species have never been collected, this study was done using the ancient DNA extracted from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum’s specimens.

He was a honours student under A/P Song Jian Xing, researching the molecular mechanism of the TDP-43causing Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The highlight of Yan Ming’s life was his solo trip to Nepal and India, trekking mountains and panicking big time when he got lost. He also aspires to be the strongest powerlifter in Singapore although he knows that will never happen.

Helen Nash

The aim of Helen’s PhD is to help create a more informative picture of the distribution and genetic variability of pangolin species found in Asia to inform conservation management goals. Specifically, she has been working on Sunda and Chinese pangolins (Manis javanica and M. pentadactyla), which are difficult to study in the wild, as they are nocturnal and shy of humans.

Her first project made use of local ecological knowledge in Hainan, China, to investigate status and threats of Chinese pangolin. Her second project uses next-generation sequencing to investigate genetic population structure of Sunda pangolin across SE Asia, which might potentially be useful for forensic monitoring of illegal pangolin trade. Thirdly, she uses VHF and GPS tags to understand dispersal movement, home range and habitat selection of Sunda pangolin in Singapore. All these varied layers of research will contribute to informed conservation action planning at both local and international levels.

Helen enjoys travelling and exploring new places during her free time.

Soo Yun Jing

Yun Jing was an honours student working on a project on the conservation of the Siamese Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis). The Siamese Crocodiles are listed as ‘Critically Endangered’, and there have been many on-going conservation efforts to preserve the species. Yun Jing’s project aims to identify potential pure-bred Siamese crocodiles from captive individuals in the Cambodian crocodile farms for a captive breeding programme using the Next Generation Sequencing method.

Balaji Chattopadhyay

Balaji has a broad interest in understanding the evolution of natural populations under changing climatic regimes, both earth-historic and human mediated. The present age of human domination, or the Anthropocene is characterized by drastic environmental degradation and associated climate change. However, we are yet to fully comprehend the consequences of this dramatic change for the existing wildlife. Balaji has provided one of the first evidence of Anthropocene mediated population endangerment of urban wildlife; assisted and opened new avenues for genomically informed field-based conservation efforts of endangered populations. He performs a broad spectrum of biodiversity and conservation research in South and Southeast Asia, specifically using integrative approach and high throughput genome scale data. In his free time, he enjoys long discussions over tea, photography, hiking, good food and lots of anime.

Emilie Cros

Emilie has abroad interest in evolutionary biology with a particularly keen interest in the study of acoustic communication. She graduated with a Masters degree in Ethology from University Paris XIII (France).During the past10 years, she took the opportunity to study acoustic communication in different model systems, as well as to further expand her skills for the study of evolution.

She joined the Avian Evolution Lab for her PhD. She used vocal and genome-wide data to investigate the emergence and loss of phenotypic and genomic diversity in sylvioids of Southeast Asia. She is currently working on a population genomic project on dogs.

Yan Yanyun

Yan is interested in research topics that apply data science to resolve societal and management issue. She’s working as a research associate in our lab, figuring out how modelling will help us to get cost effective ways to manage over population of pigeons in Singapore.

In her free time, she likes swimming and travelling.

Bryan Lim

Bryan was working on the phylogenetic resolution of the Oriental White-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) species complex in Sundaland using Next-Generation-Sequencing. Bryan’s aim is to identify genetically distinct subspecies within the complex and their regional conservation implications as this species are highly poached in the regional cage bird trade.

In his free time, Bryan just enjoys birding right on his hall’s rooftop with a cold beer in hand.

Ng Shao Hua

Shao Hua was working on a UROPS project on the population estimation of a wide-spread native bird in Singapore. He is conducting island-wide surveys to gather their population sizes across the nation and also at specific localities. In addition, he is employing radio tracking techniques on several individuals to understand their movements and behaviours. Shao Hua enjoys bird-watching in his free time, and hopes to be able to visit Papua New Guinea one day to see the Birds of Paradise.

Lee Qiao Le

Qiao Le is an Honours student currently working on the phylogeny of Napothera wren-babblers across Asia using whole genome and bioacoustics.

She only recently started her growing love for birds when a fantail followed her for an hour while she was trekking in New Zealand.

She also loves a good flat white.

Kelsey Moreland

Kelsey was a year-long exchange student from the University of Texas at Austin earning her B.S. Genetics and Genomics degree. During her tenure at the Avian Evolution Lab, she spent most of her time working on the population genetics of the Common Redshank (Tringa totanus), on which she constructed her UROPS thesis. For her project, Kelsey aided in mist-netting activities, collaborated with international museums and labs, performed DNA extractions, prepared a ddRAD library for Next Generation Sequencing, and analyzed SNP data to evaluate the species’ population structure. In her spare time, Kelsey enjoyed travelling around Southeast Asia and Australasia, eating the local vegetarian food, and acquainting herself with Singlish. She returned back to the University of Texas at Austin to complete her degree and Honors thesis.

Denise Nastaya Harjoko

Denise is currently investigating avian blood parasites for her final year project. She hopes to broadly learn more about them, including their preva lence and the larger implications on avianhealth and conservation.

Despite living in a concrete jungle, she loves animals and is interested in a variety of animal-related issues, from animal welfare to human-wildlife conflicts.

Stacia Loong

Stacia is currently working on her UROPS project – Technology in conservation: Investigating sound attenuation of different species and distance estimation based on passive acoustic monitoring. She hopes to be able to create a profile for 7 Asian Hornbill species as well as the critically endangered Straw-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) to be used for conservation purposes. Since young, she has always been interested in wildlife and in her free time, she either volunteers her time to help various animals or works as a part time Veterinary Technician (having graduated from Temasek Polytechnic Veterinary Technician).

Clara Lau

Clara is working on a final year project seeking to define the conservation units of the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabaricus) through mitochondrial genome divisions between subspecies. With its ongoing rapid decline in the Western Sumatran archipelago due to trapping, Clara hopes her project can better inform breeding programme efforts to save the adorable songbird.

Clara aspires to continue working in conservation genomics and dreams of birding in every continent and climate. She takes joy in writing and her guilty pleasure; playing video games.