Yishu Zhang is a research technician at the Crop Transformation Facility (CTF) at the University of Illinois. For the RIPE project, Yishu is responsible for conducting plant transformations in tobacco. Yishu earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Minnesota, later going on to receive her master's degree in chemistry at the University of Illinois. Her work has been published in Accounts of chemical research and Limnology and Oceanography.