Yingchen studies the intersection between the history of evolutionary biology and queer theory, focusing on how evolutionary scientists enlist/ed ideas of social, political, economic, and psychical reproduction to make sense of the purpose and value of genetic diversity across a range of asexual and sexual reproductions from the Fin de siècle to the contemporary era. Her work aims to put disparate valuations of the relationship between death and diversity as taken up in conservation science and queer theory in conversation with each other, as well as to situate contemporary epistemologies of queer nonhuman life within a broader historical scientific context.

She is also an admin of Trans PhD Network, a Facebook networking group for trans people pursuing graduate work.