About Walter Hung

Shih-Hsun Walter Hung (洪世勳) currently works as a predoctoral researcher in Prof Saskia Hogenhout Group, John Innes Centre, UK, and studies the Effector Biology among Molecular Plant-Microbe-Insect Interactions.

Walter started his academic journey as an undergrad researcher around 2017 and focused on the symbiotic relationships among host-microbe interactions. In 2018, he and colleagues established an engineered endophyte (non-pathogenic microorganisms living inside plants)-assisted integrated system for in planta dioxin bioremediation. The results won the gold medal from the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) and were published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. 

During the Bachelor's (2017-2021) and Master's (2021-2023) studies, Walter mainly studied the molecular mechanisms of bacterial endophytes to improve the growth and stress tolerance of their host plants, especially investigating those bacterial metabolites that can simultaneously attune plant respiration and photosynthesis. During that time, Walter was also involved in the project on researching early energy metabolisms in the origin of life, targeting carbon flux manipulation in cells. These experiences interested him in studying the communication between endophytes and plant cell organelles, i.e., mitochondria and chloroplasts. To answer these questions, Walter later joined Academia Sinica to learn more knowledge and experimental skills, including membrane protein topology of plant organelles, symbiont evolutionary and comparative genomics, multi-omics analysis, etc.

In 2023-2024, Walter and his team used plant (mostly Arabidopsis thaliana and bacterial endophytes) and animal (Acropora corals and bacterial symbionts) models to study the metabolic crosstalks between symbiotic bacteria and their host's (sub)organelles. Through multi-omics and integrated wet bench approaches for studying present life's host-microbe interactions, Walter aims to reveal clues to those energic metabolisms among early life's cell-cell interactions.

Funding

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