Latest News

Dr. Xiang participated in the 2025 Ciliate Molecular Biology Meeting held in Wuhan, China, where leading researchers from around the world gathered to discuss the latest advances in ciliate biology, molecular mechanisms, and their ecological significance.

As part of the program, Dr. Xiang had the honor of chairing the symposium on “Symbiosis & environmental stress.” This session highlighted cutting-edge research into how ciliates and their symbiotic partners interact, adapt, and respond to changing environments, from molecular pathways of stress tolerance to the dynamics of host–symbiont interactions.

Xiang lab undergraduate student researcher Jacob Hellonsley successfully presented his capstone project at the Senior Design Showcase. Congratulations Jacob!

We are proud to share that Jacob Hensley has been awarded the BCOE Undergraduate Research Student Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in our lab.

Congratulations to Jacob on this well-deserved recognition!

Dr. Xiang teaches BIEN 224: Cellular and Molecular Engineering, where class discussions sparked a deeper exploration that led to a mini-review publication. This work highlights how collaborative learning can drive meaningful scientific contributions.

A big congratulations and thank you to Gagan, Ashley, and Jimmy for their excellent work and dedication!

Many thanks to Dr. Mike Lynch and the Center for the kind invitation!

Her presentations highlighted recent work from the lab on coral–algal symbiosis. It was a great opportunity to share findings, connect with collaborators, and engage with the broader genomics community. Many thanks to the workshop organizers for their kind invitation and for the opportunity to contribute to such an engaging and collaborative forum!

Thanks to Dr. Adam Jozwiak in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences for the invitation!

The work on multi-omics analysis of green lineage osmotic stress pathways unveils crucial roles of different cellular compartments with collaborators at Stanford and Carnegie now is published in Nature Communications! Check it out!

LINK to the paper

Thanks to the Hellman Fellows Program for their support! The Society of Hellman Fellows is an endowed program at the University of California that provides research funding to promising Assistant Professors with the potential for significant contributions to their fields.

Bioengineering undergrad Jacob has been awarded the 2024-2025 Chancellor’s Research Fellowship for his project on genetic screens in Symbiodiniaceae.  The UCR Chancellor's Research Fellowship supports undergraduate student engagement in faculty-mentored research and creative projects. Congratulations Jacob!

The work on genome-wide distribution of 5-hydroxymethyluracil and chromatin accessibility in the Breviolum minutum genome with collaborators at Stanford and Carnegie now is published at Genome Biology! Check it out!

LINK to the paper

Thanks to the Marine Lab and Dr. Lobban for hosting our students!

Absolutely thrilled to announce that our first PhD student, Andrea Kirk, has successfully defended her dissertation today! A monumental achievement reflecting years of hard work and dedication. Congratulations, Dr. Kirk!

Immense gratitude to UNCC for laying the foundation and providing support, and to UCR for their continued support. Special thanks to the committee members—Profs. Adam Reitzel, Rebekah Rogers, Paola López-Duarte, and Richard Chi—for their invaluable support during Andrea Kirk’s PhD journey!

The Western Photosynthesis Conference (WPC) is an annual meeting that caters to a large group of scientists in the Western states that broadly work on the topic of photosynthesis in plants, algae, bacteria, and artificial systems. 

Undergrad Eric Huitt has been awarded a minigrant by UCR Center for Undergraduate Research & Engage Learning for his project on genetic screens in Symbiodiniaceae. Congratulations Eric!

Thrilled to announce our latest publication in Current Biology: "Biosynthesis of Chlorophyll c in a Dinoflagellate and Heterologous Production in Planta." We discover the CHLOROPHYLL C SYNTHASE (CHLCS), a unique enzyme in dinoflagellates essential for chlorophyll c biosynthesis. The enzyme's 2OG dioxygenase domain plays a pivotal role in this process.

Our research demonstrates that expressing CHLCS in plants leads to the production of chlorophyll c1 and c2, paving the way for innovative methods to enhance plant pigment profiles using algal counterparts.

A huge shoutout to our amazing collaborators at the Jinkerson Lab @UCR, Patrick Keeling Lab @UBC, and Johan Andersen-Ranberg Lab @University of Copenhagen for their invaluable contributions to this work.

Check out the paper here!

Protocol for the generation of Symbiodiniaceae mutants using UV mutagenesis. Check it out here!

Congrats Joseph!

Cell wall digestion of the dinoflagellate Breviolum minutum. Check it out here!

Congrats to Pranee Pairs! 

Thanks to the Biology Graduate Student Association (BGSA) for the invitation!

The UCR BMES chapter secured the Outstanding Outreach Program Award at the 2023 BMES Annual Meeting. Eric Huitt, who is seen in the center of the photo, is the president of the UCR BMES chapter. He delivered a presentation and accepted the award during the meeting in Seattle, WA.

Dr. Pranee Pairs obtained her PhD from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCR.

Thanks for the invitation, Medina Lab!

Thanks to UCR Academic Senate for the support.

Dr. Tingting Xiang joins the Department of Bioengineering at UCR. Xiang lab is recruiting at all levels - postdocs, graduate, and undergraduate students. 

Please contact Tingting (txiang@ucr.edu) if you are interested in learning more details.

Dr. Xiang UCR profile

Single-cell dissociation of the model cnidarian sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana. Check it out here!

Congrats to Andrea Kirk!

Congrats to Andrea Kirk who just completed and passed her oral candidacy exam, becoming Xiang Lab’s first PhD candidate! We look forward to the innovative and wonderful work she will conduct during her candidacy. Great job, Andrea!

We are excited that our NSF EDGE proposal is funded! We'd like to thank NSF for the support! The EDGE program supports the development of innovative tools, technologies, resources, and infrastructure that advance biological research focused on the identification of the causal mechanisms connecting genes and phenotypes. The EDGE program also supports functional genomic research that addresses the mechanistic basis of complex traits in diverse organisms within the context (environmental, developmental, social, and/or genomic) in which they function.  These goals are essential to uncovering the rules that underlie genomes-to-phenomes relationships and predict phenotype, an area relevant to Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype, one of the 10 Big Ideas for NSF investment.  

Congratulations to our incoming PhD student Tessa Gebert on receiving the Wayland H. Cato Jr. First-Year Doctoral Fellowship. This award is among the most prestigious awards offered to graduate students by UNC Charlotte. Great job Tessa!

Thanks ASPB’s Women in Plant Biology Committee's support. This fund allows Xiang to present her recent results in the conference in Portland, Oregon (July 9-13), connect with many women researchers, and also learn more about the progress from other groups working on various aspects of plant biology!

Each year, ASPB’s Women in Plant Biology Committee makes travel awards to enable early career women investigators to attend the Plant Biology conference.

Dr. Xiang presents a talk at 15th International Coral Reef Symposium, which was held at Bremen, Germany from July 3 to 8, 2022. She talked about the work on Cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis establishment independent of photosynthesis. Lots of exciting work and it was great to meet with colleagues and new friends!

Our new paper is out at Current Biology! Cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis establishment is independent of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis shapes the symbiotic relationships between cnidarian hosts and Symbiodiniaceae algae. We created Symbiodiniaceae photosynthetic mutants and show that infection, proliferation, and maintenance can proceed without photosynthesis during symbiosis establishment but the ability to do so depends on specific host-symbiont pairs. Great job Casandra and Andrea. This was also a team effort, and thanks to our awesome collaborators Prof. Robert Jinkerson and PhD student Joseph Russo at UCR; Prof. Richard Chi at UNCC; Prof. Mark Martindale at the Whitney Lab for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida; Prof. Arthur Grossman at Carnegie Institution for Science; and Prof. Masayuki Hatta at Ochanomizu University, Japan. Check out news here:

• UNC Charlotte News

• UCR News

• ScienceDaily

• ZME Science

Dr. Xiang presents a talk at the 10th Annual Symbiosis Workshop.

The Xiang lab welcomes Biology undergraduate student Kes Moore.

Xiang is awarded a Flash Grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Corals rely on the symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellate algae, which is the foundation for the reef ecosystem - an important resource for economic growth and coastal protection in North Carolina. This project is to discover key mechanisms underlying this critical symbiosis and provide knowledge to help the conservation of coral reefs.

Thanks to NCBC for the support!

More information about SPARC4 program can be found here. The STEM Persistence and Retention via Curricula, Centralization, Cohorts, and Collaboration Project will provide 156 scholarships over five years, beginning in fall 2018. For each year of the new initiative, 10-12 students at each community college will be chosen for one-year renewable scholarships, faculty and peer mentoring, and targeted advising designed to promote successful transfer to the biology or pre-biology major at UNC Charlotte in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Xiang presents a seminar at the Department of Plant Biology, University of Georgia. Thanks for the invitation Brad!

Congratulations to undergraduate student Mahita Sadula being accepted into the Still Scholars Early Acceptance Program. Great job Mahita!