I grew up in Canton, China. I received my bachelor's degree in 2008 at the biology department of Sun Yat-sen University (中山大學). My bachelor's degree thesis was on taxonomy and morphometrics of gobies (Perciformes, Gobiidae) in south China.

My main research interests include animal communication, signal-receptor coevolution, prezygotic isolation mechanisms and sympatric speciation.

Current projects focus on the effect of early learning in female mate choice in X. malinche, historical hybridization in Xiphophorus and QTL mapping of olfactory preferences using admixed hybrids.

Cross-fostering experiments in cichlids had shown that early learning experience, especially olfaction, affected mate preference. Furthermore, assortative mating based on phenotypic discrimination may facilitate linkage disequilibrium between subgroups within the same population and may have implications in early sympatric speciation.

I found that X. malinche females avoided familiar olfactory phenotypes in mate choice, in direct contrast with their sister species X. birchmanni. Early learning also has different effects in the olfactory and the visual modalities.

Compared to other sensory modalities, olfactory receptors are presumably less constraint by natural selection due to high copy numbers and rapid duplication rates facilitated by retrotransposon elements, which allow evolution of private signaling channels. Previous studies in the swordtail system showed that females attend to water-soluble male olfactory cues during courtship, and they discriminate against heterospecific odors. Collaborating with the chemistry department at TAMU, we're we're trying to isolate and identify possible pheromones from the simulating water produced by the courting males combining behavioral trials, HPLC and mass spectrometry.

Collaborating with Clay Small, we're screening the swordtail transcriptome data for candidate olfactory receptors.

Using high-throughput RNA-seq methods, we found extensive historical hybridization in Xiphophorus, suggesting a porous pre-mating isolating mechanism in the genus. Certain species showed even admixture between parental lineages, potentially consistent with hybrid speciation.

Admixsimul is a c++ program in development for individual simulation of admixture process. Genomic structure, marker properties, genetic architecture as well as natural and sexual selection can be easily configured. It also contains the capabilities to export to Admixmap for mapping analyses.

Phonetica Latinae is a website for ecclesiatical and classical pronunciation of Latin with interactive audio playbacks.