Curriculum Vitae

Education

2011 - 2016 Ph.D. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Lab of Dr. Craig Albertson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

2009 - 2011 Ph.D. program in Biology, Syracuse University. The Albertson Lab later moved to UMass.

2005 - 2009 Bachelor’s degree of Science. Nanjing Normal University, College of Life Science, National Research Training Program in Biology.

Academic training

2017 – present Post-doctoral research fellow in Dr. Sarah McMenamin’s lab at Boston College. Studying thyroid hormone-mediated developmental mechanisms in zebrafish with advanced microscopy, molecular and bioinformatic approaches.

2015 – 2017 Post-doctoral research fellow in Dr. Jacqueline Webb’s lab at the University of Rhode Island, worked on sensory development of coral reef fishes with classic histology.

2009 - 2015 Ph.D. student in Dr. Craig Albertson’s lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Studied developmental mechanisms of craniofacial variation in the African cichlids and Antarctic notothenioids in an evolutionary context.

2007 - 2008 Undergraduate Research Training Program at Nanjing Normal University. Participated in the design and development of an ELISA kit for detection of “Appendage Tremor Disease” in Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis.

2007 Worked with Xuan Hu from Dr. Guoqing Shen’s lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, participated in a study of insecticide degradation.

Teaching experiences

2019 & 2021 Instructor for a summer R training camp for undergraduate and graduate students at Boston College.

2016 spring Participated in teaching a senior/graduate level course at URI. (Bio412/594 Evolution and Development of Fishes)

2013 & 2014 fall Teaching assistant at UMass Amherst. Lecture support for intro-Bio (manages grades, designing discussion sessions, miscellaneous coordination between students and TAs)

2011 fall Teaching assistant at UMass Amherst. Lab instructor for 2 introductory biology lab sessions

2009 - 2011 Teaching assistant at Syracuse University. Lab instructor for 2 introductory biology lab sessions at the first year; discussion leader for 2 Anatomy & Physiology lab sessions at the second year.

Publications

Majoris, J.E., Foretich, M.A., Hu, Y., Nickles, K.R., Di Persia, C.L., Chaput, R., Schlatter, E., Webb, J.F., Paris, C.B., Buston, P.M. 2021. An integrative investigation of sensory organ development and orientation behavior throughout the larval phase of a coral reef fish. Scientific Reports. 2021; 11, 12377. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-91640-2. Nickles, K., Hu, Y., Majoris, J.W., Buston, P.M. and Webb, J.F. 2020. Organization and ontogeny of a complex lateral line system in a goby (Elacatinus lori), with a consideration of function and ecology. Copeia. (in press)

Hu, Y., & Albertson, R.C. Modulatory Multiplicity in the Cichlid Feeding Apparatus Revisited: An Eco-Evo-Devo Perspective. In M.E. Abate & D.L. Noakes (Ed.), The Behavior, Ecology and Evolution of Cichlid Fishes: A Contemporary Modern Synthesis. (in press)

Hu, Y., Mauri, A, Donahue, J, Singh, R, Acosta, B, McMenamin, S. Thyroid hormone coordinates developmental trajectories but does not underlie developmental truncation in danionins. Developmental Dynamics. 2019;248(11):1144–1154. doi:10.1002/dvdy.76

Keer, S., Cohen, K., May, C., Hu, Y., McMenamin, S., Hernandez, L.P. Anatomical assessment of the adult skeleton of zebrafish reared under different thyroid hormone profiles. Anatomical Record (Hoboken). 2019;302(10):1754–1769. doi:10.1002/ar.24139

Hu, Y., Majoris, J.E., Buston, P.M., & Webb, J.F. (2018). Potential Roles of Smell and Taste in the Orientation Behavior of Coral Reef Fish Larvae: Insights from Morphology. Journal of Fish Biology, published online 10 September 2018. doi: 10.1111/jfb.13793.

Muñoz, M., Hu, Y., Anderson, P.S.L., & Patek, S. (2018). Strong biomechanical relationships bias the tempo and mode of morphological evolution. ELife 7 (August): 5607–10. doi: 10.7554/eLife.37621.

Conith, R.M., Hu, Y., Conith, A.J., Maginnis, M., Webb, J.F., Albertson, R.C. (2018) Genetic and developmental origins of a novel foraging adaptation in a Lake Malawi cichlid genus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115 (27): 7063–68. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1719798115.

Hu, Y. and Albertson, R. C. (2017) ‘Baby fish working out: an epigenetic source of adaptive variation in the cichlid jaw’, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1860), p. 20171018. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1018. Highlighted on Nature, Science, the Node, ScienceDaily, livescience, evobites and more.

Hu, Y., Nelson-Maney, N. and Anderson, P. S. L. (2017), Common evolutionary trends underlie the four-bar linkage systems of sunfish and mantis shrimp. Evolution, 71: 1397–1405. doi:10.1111/evo.13208

Hu, Y., Ghigliotti, L., Vacchi, M., Pisano, E., Detrich, H. W., & Albertson, R. C. (2016). Evolution in an extreme environment: developmental biases and phenotypic integration in the adaptive radiation of antarctic notothenioids. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16(1), 142. doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0704-2

Hu, Y., & Albertson, R. C. (2016). Developmental Biases on Morphological Evolvability. In R. M. Kliman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology (pp. 399–403). Elsevier. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800049-6.00134-7

Craig Albertson, R., Powder, K. E., Hu, Y., Coyle, K. P., Roberts, R. B., & Parsons, K. J. (2014). Genetic basis of continuous variation in the levels and modular inheritance of pigmentation in cichlid fishes. Molecular Ecology, 23(21),5135-5150. doi:10.1111/mec.12900

Hu, Y., & Albertson, R. C. (2014). Hedgehog signaling mediates adaptive variation in a dynamic functional system in the cichlid feeding apparatus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8530–8534. doi:10.1073/pnas.1323154111

Hu, Y., Parsons, K., & Albertson, R. (2014). Evolvability of the Cichlid Jaw: New Tools Provide Insights into the Genetic Basis of Phenotypic Integration. Evolutionary Biology, 41(1), pp.145–153. doi: 10.1007/s11692-013-9254-3

Roberts, R.B., Hu, Y., Albertson, R.C. & Kocher, T.D., (2011). Craniofacial divergence and ongoing adaptation via the hedgehog pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(32), pp.13194–13199. doi:10.1073/pnas.1018456108

Shen, G., Hu, X., & Hu, Y. (2009). Kinetic study of the degradation of the insecticide pymetrozine in a vegetable-field ecosystem. Journal of hazardous materials, 164(2-3), 497-501. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.08.020

Selected conference presentations

2020 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2020 annual meeting. Talk title: Thyroid Hormone Mediates Proximal-Distal Patterning in Zebrafish Fin Skeleton.

2019 Society for Developmental Biology annual meeting 2019. Poster title: Thyroid hormone coordinates larva-to-juvenile transition in zebrafish (Danio rerio): a “minimorphosis”?

2019 Society for Developmental Biology northeast regional meeting 2019. Talk and poster title: Thyroid hormone regulates fin ray patterning independent of fin size in zebrafish. Best postdoc presentation.

2018 Society for Developmental Biology northeast regional meeting 2018. Poster title: Thyroid hormones mediate fin ray branching in zebrafish.

2018 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2018 annual meeting. Talk title: Parsing the roles of thyroid hormones in developmental regulation: a survey of phenotypic features in hypothyroid zebrafish.

2017 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2017 annual meeting. Talk title: Navigation of pelagic fish larvae: insights from the development of nose, inner ear and taste buds in Elacatinus spp. (Gobiidae).

2016 Society of Craniofacial Genetics & Developmental Biology 2016 annual meeting. Talk title: Baby fish working out: An epigenetic source of adaptive variation in cichlids.

2016 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2016 annual meeting. Talk Title: Craniofacial integration and evolution in an extreme environment: The adaptive diversification of Antarctic notothenioids.

2014 Society of Craniofacial Genetics & Developmental Biology 2014 annual meeting. Poster Title: Hedgehog signaling mediates adaptive variation in a complex functional system in the cichlid skull

2013 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology 2013 annual meeting. Talk Title: Evolvability of the cichlid jaw: New insight into the genetic basis of phenotypic integration.

2011 Joint Northeast Regional Divisional Meetings of Vertebrate Morphology and Comparative Biomechanics of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Talk Title: Hedgehog pathway driving craniofacial divergence in African cichlids.

Fieldwork

2014 Joined an expedition team led by Bill Detrich from Northeastern University to Palmer station, Antarctica to collect notothenioid fishes from the Southern Ocean.

Workshops

2020 – 2021 Harvard Medical School Bioinformatics Working Group

2019 MBL - ASU History of Biology Seminar: Uncovering the Logic of Regeneration across Complex Living Systems

2017 CEGS CCC Computational Genomics Workshop at the Broad Institute

2016 Teaching at Teaching Intensive Institutions workshop at UMass Boston

2011 - 2015 Played a leading role in a student-driven learning workshop for R programming at UMass Amherst.

Grants and awards

2020 Boston​ ​College​ ​Postdoctoral​ ​Association​ Knowledge​ ​Dissemination​ ​Program - $750

2019 Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Basic Science Program - $109,792

2018 Boston​ ​College​ ​Postdoctoral​ ​Association​ Knowledge​ ​Dissemination​ ​Program - $500

2016 AAAS/Science Program for Excellence in Science

2015 Graduate School Dissertation Research Grant - $1000

2015 Natural History Collections Scholarship - $2500