Research Focus

My research focuses on chemical ecology – a multidisciplinary field that explores how organisms communicate and interact through chemical signals in their environment.

I conduct fundamental studies on biosynthesis and chemoreception, exploring the unique biochemical activities of pheromone glands and advancing our understanding of how chemical signals are produced, evolve, and mediate communication between species.

I also pursue applied research, identifying new pheromones from agricultural pests and developing biosynthetic gene toolkits for producing these compounds in engineered microbes and plants. My work bridges chemical ecology and synthetic biology, advancing sustainable pest management from proof-of-concept to validated field applications.

My background

I did my PhD at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing (2004), where I studied sex pheromone biosynthesis in closely related moth species and their hybrids.

After completing my PhD, I was appointed Assistant Professor at the Institute of Zoology, CAS (2004). I later visited the Entomology Group at Wageningen University in the Netherlands (2005) and the Pheromone Group at Lund University in Sweden (2006). I formally moved to Lund in late 2008, where I continue to develop my research at the intersection of chemistry, biology, and sustainability.