I have been deeply passionate about chemosensation—the senses of smell and taste—since my PhD. Chemosensation enables organisms to perceive environmental chemicals, shaping behavioral adaptations essential for survival and reproduction.

A primary focus of my research has been the function and evolution of insect chemosensory receptors. I investigated the evolution of receptors for different types of sex pheromones in moths, providing insights into how functional divergence occurs under generally strong selective pressures. I also characterized general odorant receptors that detect attractive and aversive plant volatiles, contributing to our understanding of insect-host plant interactions. My co-workers and I pioneered the study of another major chemosensory receptor gene family, ionotropic receptors (IRs), in Lepidoptera. We reported the first functional IRs in this group, including the receptor for octanoic acid that was conserved across noctuid moths and mediated their avoidance of over-fermented sugary substrates.

In recent years, I broadened the research scope to chemosensation in non-insect arthropods (including ticks and spiders), the neural and molecular basis of which remain largely unexplored.

With the tick project funded by Formas (Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development) and Crafoord Foundation, I aim to reveal the functions of tick chemosensory receptor genes, which can be utilised as molecular targets to screen eco-friendly novel tick repellents. The novel repellents represent sustainable alternative to currently prevalent synthetic repellents that have raised health and environmental concerns and are facing increasing resistance in vector populations.

With the spider project I collaborated with Prof. Gabriele Uhl at University of Greifswald in Germany, we have for the first time demonstrated that male spiders use sensory hairs called wall-pore sensilla on walking legs to detect female-produced volatile sex pheromones and their olfaction is much more sensitive than we previously thought. Now I will continue exploring the chemosensory capabilities of spiders and the underlying molecular and neural mechanisms.

In addition, I have general interests in various types of receptors and ion channels. I keep extensive internal and external collaborations, having been worked on not only chemosensory receptors, but also GPCRs and GABA receptors in different insect species, vertebrates and phytoplankton.

Beyond research, I am actively involved in supervision, teaching and popular science dissemination.

Background

I obtained my PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2011 at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. After that, I joined the Pheromone Group at Department of Biology, Lund Unversity, as a postdoc and have since continued my work in the group as a researcher.