Yiliang is an Honorary Group Leader at the Institute and is group leader at the John Innes Centre in Norwich where she is part of the Genes in the Environment research programme. Yiliang’s research investigates the role of RNA structure in gene regulation, such as translation, spicing and degradation, with a focus on understanding the dynamics of RNA structure in living cells.

Yiliang currently leads and has led several prestigious research grants, such as the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council David Phillips Fellowship (2014-2019), European Research Council Starting Grant (2016-2022) and Proof of Concept (2021-2023), and European Research Council Consolidator Grant (2023-2028). She is currently a tenured group leader at the John Innes Centre and an honorary associate professor in the University of East Anglia.