Yu Zeng Ph.D.
Hi, I’m Yu Zeng 曾昱, a biologist based in the University of South Florida at Tampa, Florida.
Research
Biomechanics and evolution of appendages.
My research investigates the function and evolution of appendages (such as legs, wings, tails and tongues), trying to understand why they are efficient and versatile.
Main systems:
- 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
- Biomechanics of omnidirectional strikes in flat spidersJournal of Experimental Biology, 2018
- Biomechanics of aerial righting in wingless nymphal stick insectsInterface Focus, 2017
- Self-propelling and rolling of a sessile-motile aggregate of the bacterium Caulobacter crescentusCommunications Biology, 2020
- Evolution of a remarkable intracellular polymer and extreme cell allometry in hagfishesCurrent Biology, 2021
- Epidermal threads reveal the origin of hagfish slimeElife, 2023
- Beyond winglets: evolutionary scaling of flight-related morphology in stick insects (Phasmatodea)Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023
- Petal-shaped femoral lobes facilitate gliding in orchid mantisesCurrent Biology, 2023