Xiaoqing successfully defended her doctoral degree!

Authored by Michael Richter

After Rahman graduated in 2024, we now say farewell to our second RBI doctor, Xiaoqing. Xiaoqing dedicated her last 5 years to investigating the host epitranscriptome and fungal small RNAs, covering the burden of excessive fungal dsRNA on growth (published this year!) as well as the fascinating splicing phenotype and A-to-I editing patterns of human immune cells challenged with a fungal pathogen. Thus, Xiaoqing’s work has advanced our understanding of dsRNA regulation in the fields of microbiology and infection biology.

Once the committee announced a passing grade, attendees were invited to refreshments and gleefully celebrated Xiaoqing.

Recently published paper of Xiaoqing: Xiaoqing Pan, Abdulrahman A. Kelani, Lukas Schrettenbrunner, Swatika Prabakar, Bhawana Israni, Matthew G. Blango* (2026). An Improved Description of the Small RNA Landscape of the Human Fungal Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Molecular Microbiology, https://doi.org/10.1111/mmi.70042