Meet Christine Jewel Yabut, molecular biologist and phylogenist1) What do you do?  My research

MeetChristine Jewel Yabut, molecular biologist and phylogenist

1) What do you do?  

My research focuses on the Phylogeny of an insect group (Trichoptera) that can be found in clean streams and rivers. I discover and describe new species from my group. The species that I discovered from the Philippines were collected in the streams of Los Banos, Laguna inside the University of the Philippines - Los Banos (Diplectrona lagunensis) and in Imugan, Nueva Vizcaya (Hydropsyche philippinensis). During my collection in Imugan, I also collected another new species that was described by a colleague who named the species after me. Cheumatopsyche christinae! I am now finishing a barcode library of the Insect species from the group Trichoptera in South Korea.

2) Where do you work? 

I just finished my Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in Korea University last August.

3) Tell us about the photos!

[Left:]This picture was taken in South Carolina, USA when I attended a training for Aquatic Insect collection. I did a teaching assistantship during the period of the summer class.

[Right:]This picture was from Mindanao when I did insect collection from January 21-25, 2014. These amazing local people helped me during my sampling.

4) Tell us about your academic career path so far. 

I graduated with a degree in B.S. Biology at the University of the Philippines Baguio. Then I entered Korea University for an integrated M.S. and Ph.D. program. I am now searching for a postdoc position and plan to describe many new species from the Philippines.

5) Anything else you’d like to share?

I am now finishing a barcode library of Korean Insects called caddisfly. This barcode library is like a tag of DNA consisting of 658 basepairs of DNA nucleotide sequences that can be referred to identify the name of the species.