Yu-Huan Wang

About Me

Hi, I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

My research explores how genetic and molecular components are organized, move, and interact inside living bacterial cells, using cutting‑edge quantitative imaging and analysis. I combine high‑resolution fluorescence microscopy (including MINFLUX and single‑particle tracking) with rigorous computational models to precisely measure how DNA loci, RNA molecules, and key protein complexes diffuse, localize, and function.

Learn more about my work at the Kim Lab Website.

Research Interests

• Chromosome Organization and Dynamics in Bacteria
• Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy
• Single-Molecule Biophysics

News

2026

• [March 24] I gave a research talk at the Biopolymers In Vivo (BIV) Subgroup Student Mini-Symposium in celebration of the 11th Annual Biophysics Week.
• [Feb. 23] I’m honored to receive the Student Research Achievement Award (SRAA) for the Biopolymers in vivo Subgroup at the 2026 BPS Annual Meeting.

2025

• [Nov. 25] I received the Graduate Travel Award for the 2026 BPS Annual Meeting.
• [Nov. 7] Our paper on RNase E’s localization & diffusion was published on eLife.
• [Oct. 6] Our paper on MSD nonlinear fitting was published on JCP.
• [July 30] I gave a talk on loci dynamics at the NSF iPoLS annual meeting.
• [May 1] I was selected as a Mavis Future Faculty Fellow.
• [Apr. 14] I was awarded a seed grant from NSF Center for Quantitative Cell Biology to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of phage DNA circularization in E. coli.

2024

• [Nov. 4] I passed my PhD preliminary exam! Let’s go~
• [Apr. 23] I received the “People’s Choice” Poster Award at the 5th Annual Illinois Biophysics Graduate Research and Networking Symposium.

Publications

Education

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [2020–Present]
  PhD in Physics
• Southern University of Science and Technology [2016–2020]
  BS in Physics
• University of California, Berkeley [2019.01–2019.08]
  Visiting Student

Honors and Awards

• Student Research Achievement Award (Biophysical Society, 2026)
• BPS Graduate Travel Award (Biophysical Society, 2026)
• Mavis Future Faculty Fellow (UIUC, 2025-2026)
• NSF Center for Quantitative Cell Biology Seed Grant (2025)
• “People’s choice” Poster Award (Illinois Biophysics, 2024)
• Outstanding Graduate Award (SUSTech, 2020)
• Excellent Undergraduate Thesis Award (SUSTech, 2020)
• Full Scholarship for Study Abroad (SUSTech, 2019)
• Climbing Research Grant (Guangdong Province, China, 2019)
• Full Scholarship for Academic Excellence (SUSTech, 2017-2020)