Coco Xie completed her BSc majoring in biotechnology at the Ocean University of China in 2016. Followed by MSc specialized in biochemistry and molecular science at the University of Western Australia. During that time, she worked on elucidating the biosynthesis of a fungal non-ribosomal peptide (NRP), varioxepin. Currently, she is continuing to work with A/Prof Yit Heng Chooi towards her PhD. Coco is interested the biosynthesis of fungal peptide natural product, which includes both NRPs and ribosomally translated and post-translational modified peptides. This allows her to engineer the enzymes that are involved in the biosynthesis to produce novel peptides for desired or enhanced bioactivity.