Yoo Jiaee, Ph.D. candidate at Pukyong National University, Wins Top Prize at Korean Society of Environmental Biology Conference

Discovery of a New Parasitic Species Infecting Plankton

Yu Jiaee, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth Environmental System Science at Pukyong National University, received the Best Student Oral Presentation Award at the Spring Academic Conference of the Korean Society of Environmental Biology.

Yu was recognized for presenting research findings on the discovery of a new parasitic organism infecting (sub)tropical plankton at this conference, which was recently held at Sono Belle Gyeongju.

The title of the presentation was ‘Morphology of Hobagella saltata n. gen. and n. sp. (Syndiniophyceae, Miozoa) infecting the marine dinoflagellate Cucumeridinium coeruleum (Dinophyceae, Miozoa) and its potential onshore advection’ (supervising professor Kim Sunju).

Doctoral student Yu Jiaee presented on the isolation of the newly discovered parasitic organism from the coastal waters of Busan as a single cell, detailing its developmental characteristics at each infection stage and its molecular phylogenetic traits through genetic analysis.

The research was recognized for suggesting the possibility of (sub)tropical organisms entering domestic coastal waters due to the influence of ocean currents and typhoons around the Korean Peninsula as a result of climate change.

The parasitic organism infecting plankton discovered by Yu is a new species previously unknown. Reflecting its morphological feature reminiscent of a ‘hobak’ (pumpkin), he named the species ‘Hobagella saltata’ (dancing pumpkin). This research was published this year in the SCIE international journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

This Spring Academic Conference of the Korean Society of Environmental Biology was held under the theme ‘Development Plans for Impact Assessment on Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environmental Pollution,’ with over 130 research papers presented across more than 10 sessions.

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