Lingsheng Meng

Lingsheng Meng

I am a Ph.D. student at Penn State

Research

Wireless Neural Recording and Stimulation in Freely Moving Cockroaches 🪳

Published:

Developed and applied a 2.2 g wireless electrophysiology backpack integrating an Intan chip, Bluetooth communication, and an onboard camera to study neural control of behavior in freely moving cockroaches. Conducted in vivo neural stimulation and recording experiments, revealing how brain activity modulates behaviors.

Neuro-Mechanical Computational Model of Insect Antennae

Published:

Developed a physics-based model of cockroach antennae (MuJoCo) to study how mechanical deflections generate neural responses for tactile perception. Validated model predictions against extracellular nerve recordings and used spiking neural networks (SNN) to classify tactile features, demonstrating efficient spike-based coding for tactile sensing.

Biomechanics of Insect Antenna

Published:

This project investigates how the structure and material properties of insect antenna shape tactile sensing. Through experiments, Micro-CT imaging, 3D reconstruction, and finite element modeling, I showed that the antenna flagellum functions as a kinematic chain system with regional specializations that enhance flexibility and prevent buckling. These findings provide a mechanistic framework linking antenna mechanics to proprioceptive strain sensing.

Fly Behavior Analysis for Wing Damage Compensation during Flight

Published:

Conducted experiments and data analysis on tethered flies to study compensatory flight mechanisms under wing damage. Acquired and processed 11 datasets, reconstructed 3D flight behavior for 16 flies, and derived wing Euler angles using custom reconstruction software. Contributed analysis supporting Dr. Wael Salem’s PhD dissertation on insect flight biomechanics.