Staff

PhD in Horticulture, Seoul National University, Korea

Research on the collection and evaluation of vegetable genetic resources, breeding of new varieties, and development of breeding techniques

Yoonah Jang is a senior researcher at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, the Rural Development Administration in Republic of Korea. She joined the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) as a seconded scientist in March 2024 and will be contributing her expertise until January 2026. Her research focuses on developing climate-resilient and disease-resistant vegetable varieties, ensuring the stable production of both leafy and root vegetables. She has developed varieties of Chinese cabbage and radish that are resistant to heat, drought, and major diseases with late maturity. These varieties also include various types of lettuce, such as leafy, butterhead, and romaine. Additionally, she has been involved in developing methods for evaluating drought and heat tolerance, as well as microspore cultures and phenotyping techniques to enhance breeding efficiency. At WorldVeg, her research will center on developing a heat tolerance evaluation technique for Chinese cabbage and chili peppers, using high-throughput field phenotyping and selecting heat-tolerant resources.