Yu Zeng Ph.D.

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Hi, I’m Yu Zeng 曾昱, a biologist based in the University of South Florida at Tampa, Florida.

Research

My research investigates the function and evolution of novel appendages (such as legs, wings, tails and tongues), trying to understand why they are efficient and versatile.

  • Insect flight, and various controlled aerial maneuvers and gliding in arthropods.
  • Mechanisms of appendage-mediated functions in organism-environment and predator-prey interactions.

Education

I received my Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from University of California at Berkeley (advised by Robert Dudley & David Wake).

Reviewed for

  • Bioinspiration & Biomimetics
  • eLife
  • Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution
  • Integrative and Comparative Biology
  • Integrative Zoology
  • iScience
  • Journal of Experimental Biology
  • Journal of Insect Sciences
  • Journal of Comparative Physiology
  • PeerJ
  • Physical Review Letters
  • PLOS ONE
  • Scientific Reports
  • Zoomorphology

selected publications

  1. movie_s1_original-size-1.gif
    Biomechanics of omnidirectional strikes in flat spiders
    Yu Zeng ,  and  Sarah Crews
    Journal of Experimental Biology, 2018
    Website
  2. right_tracrop.gif
    Biomechanics of aerial righting in wingless nymphal stick insects
    Yu Zeng ,  Kenrick Lam ,  Yuexiang Chen ,  Mengsha Gong ,  Zheyuan Xu ,  and  Robert Dudley
    Interface Focus, 2017
  3. winglets_1.png
    A tale of winglets: evolution of flight morphology in stick insects
    Yu Zeng ,  Connor O’Malley ,  Sonal Singhal ,  Faszly Rahim ,  Sehoon Park ,  Xin Chen ,  and  Robert Dudley
    Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2020
  4. rosette_tiny2.gif
    Self-propelling and rolling of a sessile-motile aggregate of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus
    Yu Zeng ,  and  Bin Liu
    Communications Biology, 2020
  5. GTC_stack_small.gif
    Evolution of a remarkable intracellular polymer and extreme cell allometry in hagfishes
    Yu Zeng ,  Skylar Petrichko ,  Kristen Nieders ,  David Plachetzki ,  and  Douglas Fudge
    Current Biology, 2021
  6. etc-small.png
    Epidermal threads reveal the origin of hagfish slime
    Yu Zeng ,  David C Plachetzki ,  Kristen Nieders ,  Hannah Campbell ,  Marissa Cartee ,  M Sabrina Pankey ,  Kennedy Guillen ,  and  Douglas Fudge
    Elife, 2023
  7. et-wing_smallcrop.jpg
    Beyond winglets: evolutionary scaling of flight-related morphology in stick insects (Phasmatodea)
    Yu Zeng ,  Sehoon Park ,  Camille Gonzales ,  Stephanie Yom ,  Faszly Rahim ,  and  Robert Dudley
    Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023
  8. mantis-small.png
    Petal-shaped femoral lobes facilitate gliding in orchid mantises
    Xin Zhao ,  Jing-Xin Liu ,  Tristan Charles-Dominique ,  Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz ,  Bing Dong ,  Lin Yan ,  James C O’Hanlon ,  Yu Zeng ,  and  Zhanqi Chen
    Current Biology, 2023