Unlocking the mystery of insect reproduction: insights from LI Yang

LI Yang, the recipient of the Chu Kochen Scholarship (the highest honor bestowed upon ZJU students) for the academic year 2021-2022, is a doctoral student majoring in the “Agricultural Entomology and Pest Control” discipline at the College of Agriculture and Biotechnology.As the first author, he has published three SCI papers, including the top international journal Cell with his research findings. This research tackled algorithmic challenges, revealed the new key to insect reproduction for the first time internationally, and provided new ideas for green pest control in agriculture, garnering widespread attention and coverage from domestic and foreign media.

Why did LI Yang choose “ecological agriculture” as his research direction? He attributed it back to his childhood love for documentaries like Animal World. Through colorful slow-motion shots, he gained an understanding of the life cycles of animals and learned that insects are the most diverse group of animals on the earth. The curiosity at his childhood also led him to develop an interest in agriculture and insects.

Students majoring in agriculture are often asked whether this major is about farming, Li Yang said. Agriculture is a meaningful and interesting area, not just about farming”. It's like an epic poem of the earth, and my research in insect evolutionary genomics and bioinformatics is like a chapter in this magnificent epic poem. With passion, LI Yang, along with his colleagues in Dr. SHEN Xingxing's research group, focuses on significant scientific problems, participates in national research and development programs. Because their research requires interdisciplinary integration, they constantly face new opportunities and challenges.

Faced with millions of insect gene information, we must learn new technologies to run biological big data in batches, tirelessly solve code errors and debug during molecular biology experiments, controll variables and take the trial-and-error approach. However, the pay is not proportional to the return. The difficulties in experiments and data analysis are numerous, as LI Yang described.

After experiencing countless trials and tribulations without giving up, LI Yang finally published his research paper in the top journal, Cell. Along the way, he is especially grateful for the guidance of his supervisor, Dr. SHEN Xingxing, and the cooperation and assistance of Professor HUANG Jianhua from the Institute of Insect Science and Professor Antonis Rokas from Vanderbilt University. Daring to do, doing it seriously, and not afraid of making mistakes, the teaching from Dr. SHEN, made him understand that in the field of life sciences, with the deepening of research, the birth of some new technologies may overturn existing cognition. Researchers must possess a critical spirit, and be willing to think and take the trial-and-error approach.

In addition to his research work, LI Yang also actively participates in various academic conferences and collaborations, publishes popular science articles on the internet to disseminate knowledge of entomology, and serves as a guide at the Insect Resource Specimen Museum in his college. Also, he has previously gone to a county, where he extensively conducted public education on pest control in orchard bases, conducted surveys on species richness, and connected scientific research with grassroots agriculture and social work.

In the future, LI Yang will continue to contribute his efforts to the professional field. He  said, It’s fortunate to find a direction one loves. I deeply understand that no matter which field one wants to excel in, one must devote more time and effort than others.

Adapted and translated from the article written by WANG Yumeng HAN Mingzheng LI Junyuan & WANG Jing

Translator: Zhao Hanle ('25,Education)

Photo: the interviewees

Editor: HAN Xiao ('25PhD, Education),TIAN Minjie