Yunru Yu

State Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Engineering, Nanjing Library

Papers

Total Citations

773

H-Index

About

Yunru Yu is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of bioinspired materials and soft robotics, with key contributions in living structural color hydrogels and biohybrid actuation systems. Her most cited work, a 2018 study on "Bioinspired living structural color hydrogels" (577 citations), draws inspiration from butterfly wings to create materials that provide intrinsic color-sensing feedback, enabling self-regulating behaviors in biohybrid robots. She further advanced this field by integrating these hydrogels into microfluidics, developing a "heart-on-a-chip" platform that mimics cardiac tissue dynamics. In her 2020 review "Biohybrid robotics with living cell actuation" (196 citations), Yu systematically outlined how integrating living cells with soft materials simulates human tissue construction and function, establishing a foundational framework for the field. Her work bridges nature-inspired design with practical biomedical applications, achieving over 770 combined citations from these two landmark papers alone. Yu's research not only pushes the boundaries of soft robotics but also offers transformative tools for tissue engineering and organ-on-a-chip technologies, making her a leading voice in biohybrid systems.