Shuo Wang

2011-2015 Ph.D., Vertebrate Paleontology, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (Supervised by Dr. Xing Xu)

2008-2011 M.Sc., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Life Science, Nankai University.

2004-2008 B.Sc., Biological Science (General), College of Life Science, Tianjin Normal University

2022-present  Professor (full), School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University

2018-2022     HFSP postdoctoral fellow, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California 

2015-2018     Assistant professor, Capital Normal University

2015-2015     Research assistant, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

       Dr. Shuo Wang is an evolutionary biologist that currently works on the interface of paleontology and neontology, his interests are across vertebrate anatomy, paleogeography, and evolutionary developmental biology of sevral vestigial organs. Dr. Shuo Wang got his master's degree in molecular biology from Nankai University and a Ph.D. degree in vertebrate paleontology from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. With the support of the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP fellowship, among the top 12 awardees worldwide), he then became an HFSP post-doctor at the Keck School of Medicine, The University of Southern California where he has been extensively trained in the interdisciplinary field of evolutionary developmental biology. He joined the East China Normal University in 2022 as a professor (full) and led the Laboratory of Evolution and Developmental Biology since then.

       As the curriculum vitae and other information indicate, Dr. Shuo Wang has been extensively trained in paleontology and biology and has accumulated certain experience in the areas of both vertebrate paleontology and evolutionary developmental biology. His study interests across traditional paleontology, vertebrate comparative anatomy, embryology, systematics, and developmental biology. He is super interested in exploring the developmental processes and evolutionary history of several vestigial organs, for example, the ontogenetic reduction of teeth (Wang et al., 2017 PNAS) and manual digit reduction patterns. To date, Dr. Shuo Wang has published more than 30 peer-reviewed papers in several world-class journals including Nature, Science, Cell, PNAS, and Current Biology. They are well-cited, and many have been highlighted in the New York Times, AAAS, and CNN, among others. By taking advantage of the combined approaches of neontology and paleontology, Dr. Shuo Wang aims to understand three challenging questions: (1) phenotypic evolution driven by ontogenetic remodeling; (2) evo-devo bases of trait loss; and (3) variable expressivity and developmental plasticity. Student and postdoc candidates who are interested in studying paleontology and evo-devo (including eco-evo-devo and paleo-evo-devo) are welcome to contact Dr. Shuo Wang for potential projects and positions in the lab. 

Key words: microevolution, macroevolution, trait loss, vestigial organ, heterochrony, serial homology, deep homology, ontogeny, phylogeny, robustness

Research Themes:

(1) Ontogeny and evolution of theropod dinosaurs and birds

(2) Evolution of ontogenetic development

(3) Evo-Devo of ectodermal organs

Fossils are essential in documenting major evolutionary events, but they cannot tell how and why the evolutionary changes take place. Dr. Shuo Wang's study experience in paleontology and developmental biology shaped his general research goal to understand the organism evolution through the fossils themselves and to understand the underlying processes by investigating the related developmental mechanisms. His long-term research goal is to trace the evolutionary history of many vestigial traits in vertebrates using combined approaches of paleontology and neontology.

Vestigial organs refer to organs that have seemingly lost their original functions and may take various morphological structure forms using cellular and/or molecular processes. They are likely formed when selective pressures requiring their original functions are relaxed or reversed while the underlying development is not completely decayed. The regression of previously functional organs and the maintenance of vestigial organs often receive less attention than the emergence of evolutionary novelties, but the vestigial organs themselves may have been shaped through different processes as when the original functional organs were gained. Thus, they are likely to provide novel perspectives to understand how the changes in biological forms could take place. Investigation of vestigial organs will help clarify many important questions, such as What types of organs are likely to experience degeneration? Are all vestigial organs formed through heterochronic development? How are developmental molecular pathways altered during evolution to lead to vestigial organ formation? Therefore, Dr. Shuo Wang's lab aims to understand these questions by investigating several model and non-model extinct and extant animals.

Key words: ontogenetic development repatterning, trait loss and vestigial organ, serial homology

Research Themes:

(1) Ontogeny and evolution of theropod dinosaurs and birds

(2) Evolution of ontogenetic development

(3) Evo-Devo of ectodermal organs

Evolutionary Developmental Biology

Vertebrate Zoology

 (*Corresponding author)

Evolution and Development of Ectodermal Organs

Wang S*, Stiegler J, Wu P & Chuong C-M. 2020. Tooth vs. Beak: The evolutionary developmental control of avian feeding apparatus. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 440: 205-228.

Wang S*, Chang W-L, Zhang Q, Yang R, Yang F, Ma M, Zhuo D, Wu P, Habib M, Juan W-T & Chuong C-M*. 2020. Variations of Mesozoic feathers: Insights from the morphogenesis of extant feather rachises.Evolution, 74: 2121-2133. (Cover story)

Wang S*, Stiegler J, Wu P, Chuong C-M, Hu D, Balanoff A, Zhou Y & Xu X. 2017. Heterochronic truncation of odontogenesis in theropod dinosaurs provides insight into the macroevolution of avian beaks. PNAS, 114: 10930-10935.

Wang S*, Stiegler J, Amiot R, Du G, Wang X, Clack J & Xu X. 2017. Extreme ontogenetic changes in a ceratosaur theropod. Current Biology, 27: 144-148.

Chang W-L, Wu H., Chiu Y-K, Wang S, Jiang T-X, Luo Z-L, Lin Y-C, Li A, Hsu J-T, Huang H-L, Gu H-J, Lin T-Y, Yang S-M, Lee T-T, Lai Y-C, Lei M-X, Shie M-Y, Yao C-T, Chen Y-W, Tsai J C, Shieh S-J, Hwu Y-K, Cheng H-C, Tang P-C, Hung S-C, Chen C-F, Habib M, Widelitz R B, Wu P, Juan W-T* & Chuong C-M*. 2019. The making of a flight feather: Bio-architectural principles and adaptation. Cell, 179: 1409-1423. (Cover story)

Anatomy and Systematics

Wang S*, Zhang Q, Tan Q, Jiangzuo QG, Zhang H. & Tan L. 2022. New troodontid theropod specimen from Inner Mongolia, China clarifies phylogenetic relationships of later-diverging small-bodied troodontids and paravian body size evolution. Cladistics, 38: 59-82.

Wang S*, Zhang Q & Yang R. 2018. Reevaluation of the dentary structures ofcaenagnathids (Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria). Scientific Reports, 8: 146.

Wang S*, Zhang S, Sullivan C & Xu X*. 2016. Elongatoolithid eggs containing oviraptorids (Theropoda, Oviraptorosauria) embryos from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern China. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 16: 67.

Wang S*, Sun C, Sullivan C & Xu X. 2013. A new oviraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Southern China. Zootaxa, 3640: 242-257.

Xu X*, Choiniere J, Tan Q W, Benson R B J, Clark J, Sullivan C, Zhao Q, Han F, Ma Q, He Y, Wang S, Xing H & Tan L. 2018. Two early Cretaceous fossils document transitional stages in alvarezsaurian dinosaur evolution. Current Biology, 28: 2853-2860.

Yu Y, Wang K, Chen S, Sullivan C, Wang S, Wang P & Xu X*. 2018. A new caenagnathid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group of Shandong, China, with comments on size variation among oviraptorosaurs. Scientific Reports, 8: 5030.

Amiot R*, Wang X, Wang S, Lécuyer C, Mazin J-M, Mo J, Flandrois J, Fourel F, Wang  X,  Xu X, Zhang Z, Zhou Z. 2017. δ18O-derived incubation temperatures of oviraptorosaur eggs. Palaeontology, 60: 441-455.

Gao T, Shih C, Rasnitsyn A P, Xu X, Wang S & Ren D*. 2014. The first flea with fully distended abdomen from the Early Cretaceous of China. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14: 168.

Hu Y, Chen Y, Wang S* & Sun Q. 2014. Pleistocene Equid brain endocast from Shanxi Province, China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 59: 253-258.

Zheng X, Zhou Z, Wang X, Zhang F, Zhang X, Wang Y, Wei G, Wang S & Xu X*. 2013. Hind wings in basal birds and the evolution of leg feathers. Science, 339: 1309-1312.

Gao T, Shih C, Rasnitsyn A P, Xu X, Wang S & Ren D*. 2013. New transitional fleas from China highlighting diversity of Early               Cretaceous ectoparasitic insects. Current Biology, 23: 1261-1266.

Gao T, Shih C, Xu X, Wang S & Ren D*. 2012. Mid-Mesozoic flea-like ectoparasites of feathered or haired vertebrates. Current Biology, 22:1-4.

Xu X*, Wang K, Zhang K, Ma Q, Xing L, Sullivan C, Hu D, Cheng S & Wang S. 2012. A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China. Nature, 484:92-95.

Please click links below for all publications:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=wGulYFMAAAAJ

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shuo-Wang-153