Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) (President Yang O-bong) Department of Agricultural Biology master's student Jang Ji-won and PhD student Hwang Dong-young (supervisor Shin Tae-young) each won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the recently held '2024 Joint Spring Meeting of the Korean Society of Applied Entomology and the Korean Entomological Society'.

At the conference, master's student Jang Ji-won presented the poster 'Differences in immune response between Aphis gossypii adults and nymphs against entomopathogenic fungal infection' and was selected as an awardee. 

Supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, this study is basic research that established a dsRNA expression model using an entomopathogenic fungus as a bio-carrier. It investigated differences in immune pathways between cotton aphid nymphs and adults in response to the entomopathogenic fungus.

In addition, PhD student Hwang Dong-young presented the poster 'Molecular characterization of double-stranded RNA virus infecting the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium pinghaense' and received positive reviews. 

Supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, this study was the first in the world to elucidate the genome of a virus infecting the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium pinghaense, and named the novel virus found in that fungus 'Metarihizum pinghanese partitivirus 1'. 

Jang Ji-won stated, "I plan to elucidate in detail the insect immune system that responds to entomopathogenic fungi," and Hwang Dong-young said, "I will pursue research on the interactions between entomopathogenic fungi and symbiotic viruses and work to improve the efficacy of fungal insecticides based on those findings."