关于我们
欢迎来到我们的实验室！我们是一群试图用代码、方程和数据来理解复杂生命系统的非典型科学工作者。如果非要用一句话总结我们在干什么，那就是：在微观的混沌中寻找数学的秩序，顺便搞清楚生物是怎么给自己折腾出这么多条多姿多彩的活路的。
About Us
Welcome to our lab! We are a group of "atypical" scientists trying to decode complex living systems using code, equations, and data. If we had to summarize what we do in one sentence, it would be: finding mathematical order within microscopic complexity, and figuring out how life manages to "hustle" its way to survival.
我们目前最感兴趣的两个科学问题：
1. 微生物的“铁诈骗网络”：
铁对生物体内的电子传递和催化极其关键，但由于地球高氧化环境让绝大部分铁变得不可溶（蓝藻对此负责），大多数生物都极度缺铁。为了抢夺极其稀缺的铁资源，微生物演化出了一种叫作“铁载体（Siderophore）”的小分子，像专属快递员一样去环境里精准抓取铁。通过对基因组中演化信号的分析，我们正在慢慢挖掘出一个覆盖大部分微生物的、错综复杂的“铁相互作用网络”。在这个网络里，细菌们各有各的套路，但最大的共性是——干饭的比做饭的多。大部分微生物，不管自己造不造铁载体，都长满受体去盗用别人的劳动成果。这里，是一个网络动力学与演化博弈论的天然“游乐场”。
2. 细胞命运与空间斑图的谜题：
这有一个我们一直着迷但还没完全想清楚的一个根本性问题：多细胞生物几乎所有的细胞都揣着同一份基因组，为什么在经历生长发育之后，却能知道长得头是头、尾巴是尾巴？在没有任何“中央指挥”的情况下，局部的细胞究竟是怎么通过非线性动力学“商量”出如此宏大且精确的空间斑图的？
The Two Scientific Questions We Are Currently Obsessed With:
1. The Microbial "Iron Fraud Network":
Iron is crucial for electron transport and catalysis in biological systems. However, thanks to Earth's highly oxidized environment (for which cyanobacteria claim full responsibility), most iron is insoluble, leaving the vast majority of life extremely iron-starved. To snatch this scarce resource, microbes evolved small molecules called "siderophores". They are a diverse class of molecular couriers designed to precisely grab iron from the environment. By analyzing evolutionary signals within genomes, we are uncovering a sprawling, intricate "iron interaction network" covering most microbes. In this network, bacteria have their own quirks and tricks, but the biggest commonality is that there are far more eaters than cooks: Most microbes, regardless of their own production behaviors, bristle with receptors to steal the fruits of others' labor. It is a natural playground for network dynamics and evolutionary game theory.
2. The Enigma of Cell Fate and Spatial Patterning:
This is a fundamental question we've always been fascinated by but haven't completely figured out yet: For a multicellular organism, practically every single cell carries the exact same genome. So why, after development, do they know that the head should be the head and the tail should be the tail? Without any "central command," how do localized cells use non-linear dynamics to "negotiate" such grand and precise spatial patterns?
研究方法
我们的看家本领是计算与建模——把复杂的生物学现象抽象为统计学与动力学模型，通过数据挖掘和网络理论来寻找底层规律。当然，为了证明我们的公式不仅仅是纸上谈兵，也是因为总发现微生物“有它们自己的想法”，最近，我们终于开始涉足一点点真实的湿实验了。
Our Methods
Our bread and butter are quantitative models, abstracting complex biological phenomena into statistical and dynamical models, and mining data and network theory for underlying laws. Of course, to prove our equations are more than just theoretical scribbles on a whiteboard, and because the reality constantly remind us that microbes "have a mind of their own," we have recently started doing a tiny bit of wet-lab work (yes, we really started).
教学与课程
目前我在主讲两门课：
· 《定量生物学导论》（本科生）
· 《高阶系统生物学》（研究生）
欢迎随时来旁听。
Teaching & Courses
I am currently teaching two core courses:
· Introduction to Quantitative Biology (Undergraduates)
· Advanced Systems Biology (Graduates)
Auditors are always welcome.
加入我们
最丰富的宇宙资源不是碳、氢、氧、碳、或铁，而是可能性。我们实验室的大门永远向充满好奇心的年轻人敞开。
· 博士后：
如果你有生物信息学、统计物理或者微生物生态/分子生物学背景，并且对跨尺度的交叉科学极具热情，我们为你准备了充足的算力和（正在搭的）实验台。
· 本科生 / 研究生：
无论你是生物、物理、数学还是计算机背景，只要你觉得上面的问题有点意思，随时欢迎来组里喝杯咖啡，聊聊未来的可能性；强烈欢迎来实验室轮转。
Join Us
The most abundant resource in the universe isn't carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, or even iron—it's possibility. Our lab doors are always open to curious young minds.
· Postdocs:
If you have a background in bioinformatics, statistical physics, or microbial ecology/molecular biology, and a fiery passion for cross-scale interdisciplinary science, we have plenty of computing power and a wet lab (currently under construction) waiting for you.
· Undergraduates / Graduates:
Whether your background is in biology, physics, math, or computer science, as long as you find the questions above even slightly interesting, you are welcome to drop by for a cup of coffee and chat about future possibilities. Lab rotations are highly encouraged.
实验室口号：暴力分析，强行建模
Lab Motto: Brute-force analysis, and model it anyway