Welcome to the Zhen Lab! We are a member of School of Life Sciences, Westlake University. We are also affiliated with Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study and Key Laboratory of Structural Biology of Zhejiang Province.
Research in the Zhen lab is focused on understanding the molecular basis of ecological adaptation. We use a combination of experimental and computational approaches to understand the impacts of adaptation on genetic variation in natural populations across environmental gradients and in species occupying unique niche. We are interested in a number of questions under this theme, including but not limited to:
1. What factors constrains adaptive evolution?
2. How does different evolutionary forces shape the pattern of diversity in natural populations?
3. What are the genetic and developmental basis of novel traits?
