Speakers

Jim Giovannoni is an adjunct professor from the section of plant biology in the school of integrative plant science at Cornell University, whose graduate fields are horticulture, plant breeding and plant biology.  The focus of research in the Giovannoni laboratory is molecular and genetic analysis of fruit ripening and related signal transduction systems with emphasis on the relationship of fruit ripening to nutritional quality.  Jim giovannoni enjoys the following patents: Ripening inhibition in the tomato Green-ripe mutant results from ectopic expression of a novel  protein which disrupts ethylene signal transduction; rin gene compositions and methods for use thereof; NOR gene for use in manipulation of fruit quality and ethylene response; endo-1,4-.beta.-glucanase genes and their use in plants.

Tianlai Li is one of the earliest facility horticultural experts to study vegetables in solar greenhouse in China. The theory and method of rational daylighting, heat storage and thermal insulation design of solar greenhouse were pioneered, the structural optimization design software of solar greenhouse was developed, and the superior structural parameters of solar greenhouse in the area of 38-46 degrees north latitude were determined, and the fourth generation energy-saving solar greenhouse was first created. the daylighting rate of the greenhouse was increased from 73% to 86%, and the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor at night was increased from 25 ℃ to 39 ℃. The unheated production area of fruits and vegetables in winter moves northward from 40.5 degrees north latitude to 43.5 degrees (about 300 kilometers north). Compared with the traditional multi-span greenhouse, the equipment cost of the new energy-saving solar greenhouse is reduced by more than 55%, saving 60,80 tons of coal per mu. Professor Tianlai Li also explored the mechanism of main adverse growth obstacles of fruits and vegetables, developed the key techniques of fruit and vegetable cultivation under low temperature and low light, and established intensive seedlings, winter and spring cultivation, long-season cultivation and full-season cultivation model and technical system of fruits and vegetables in solar greenhouse in northern cold region, which set a precedent of 25000 kg per mu fruit and vegetable yield per mu in cold region above minus 28 ℃. It is three times the yield in the early 1990s. It has laid a solid technical foundation for the formation and development of vegetable industry in solar greenhouse in China. He has made an important contribution to the development of facility horticulture in China. He took the lead in setting up academic platforms such as facility horticulture discipline and facility horticulture key laboratory in China, and successively served as vice chairman of Chinese Agricultural Engineering Society, director of facility horticulture engineering professional committee, modern agriculture subject expert of the "Tenth five-year Plan" national "863" plan, evaluation expert of Life Science Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China, director of facilities Engineering and Environmental Control Research Office of National Technical system of bulk vegetable Industry. Member of the eighth Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, member of the vegetable expert guidance Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, Executive Director of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, National Science and Technology Award Evaluation expert, member of the discipline Group of Liaoning Provincial Government academic degree Committee, editorial Board of "Journal of Agricultural Engineering", Editor-in-Chief of "Journal of Shenyang Agricultural University", etc., and has been invited to give a report on the basis of the conference at many academic conferences at home and abroad.

Douglas Soltis is currently professor of University of Florida, Gainesville, United States, undertaking projects including EA-ENA disjunction, biogeographic reconstruction of Theaceae and the historical assembly of evergreen broadleaved forests in East Asia and molecular systematics and taxonomy of Lamiaceae,etc. 

Lisa Alexander is a USDA Research Geneticist working to improve woody ornamental landscape plants for the U.S. National Arboretum. Her current research focuses on genome resource development and functional genomics of hydrangeas, breeding hydrangeas and other ornamental landscape species for improved disease resistance and stress tolerance and introducing unique traits to popular ornamental species through hybridization and other advanced breeding techniques.

Receiving a Ph.D. in genomics and biotechnology, Pere Arus specializes in molecular markers, comparative genomics and plant breeding, etc. and is now a researcher at Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology.

Manzhu Bao is the professor and doctoral supervisor, whose main research areas are: germplasm resources of landscape plants; genetic breeding and biotechnology. Manzhu Bao has presided over more than 20 research projects, including International Foundation for Science, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National 863 Program, 948 Project of Ministry of Agriculture, Key Project of Ministry of Education, Doctoral Program Fund, and Major Science and Technology Project of Wuhan. 

Dr. Fei Chen received his PhD on fruit science in 2016 from Nanjing Agricultural University. He then worked on genomics in Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University from 2016-2019. Now he work on plant genomics and bioinformatics in NAU. His research interest focus on decoding high-quality genomes and perform evolutionary analyses. He has interest to reveal the molecular mechanisms using high-throughput tools.

Professor Liang Chen completed his PhD on Tea Science from Zhejiang University, China and postdoctoral studies from Cornell University, USA. He also visited Japan, Italy and The Netherlands as senior visiting professor. He has been the professor on tea genetic resources, genetics, breeding, and genomics in the Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (TRICAAS) since 2007. Now, he is the leading expert of Tea Germplasm Group of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences through the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program. He has been appointed twice as Honorary Scientist and Advisor of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) of the Republic of Korea. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed international journals, such as Nature Communications, Horticulture Research, etc. He is the Executive Editor of the newly launching open access, online-only, international journal, Beverage Plant Research (BPR).

 Chen Wansheng, born in 1968, is a professor and doctoral supervisor. Born in Dangtu County, Anhui Province, Ph.D., the current deputy director of the Pharmacognosy Teaching and Research Section. Personal profile concurrently serving as a council member of the Shanghai Society of Plant Physiology and a member of the Pharmacognosy Professional Committee of the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Association. Shanghai Science and Technology Venus. The research direction is mainly engaged in the authentic systematic research of Chinese herbal medicines, the basic research of crude drug active substances and the development of new drugs.

Fangyun Cheng, the professor and doctoral supervisor, received a Ph.D. in garden plants at the Beijing Forestry University in 1996. Prof. Cheng is mainly engaged in the research of garden flower breeding, promotion and cultivation, industrialization technology and biotechnology. Prof. Cheng is now leading the National "Tenth Five-Year Plan" 863, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing Natural Science Foundation and State Forestry Administration "948" and other scientific research projects; 10 new species of purple peony registered internationally, and hundreds of fine varieties of peony and peony have been selected to cultivate , Edited 1 academic monograph, participated in the editing of 2 titles, and the first author published 35 academic papers.

Wei Deng is a professor and doctoral supervisor in the College of Life Sciences, Chongqing University, whose main research interests are tomato fruit development and nutrition, postharvest preservation, and molecular breeding. Prof. Deng has published more than 40 articles in Plant Physiology, New Phytologist, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Plant Journal and other journals.

Baoqing Ding, doctor and professor, received his Ph.D. in biology from Baylor University, whose research area is the genetic and developmental mechanisms of flower color and type. Since 2021, he has been working at college of horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University. 

 Qiaohong Duan is the doctor, professor and doctoral supervisor, who received a Ph.D. at Peking University in 2006.  She was appointed professor in the Department of Vegetables, College of Horticultural Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University in 2017. Her main research areas include receptor-like kinase-mediated intracellular signaling pathways; pollen-pistil interactions; and the formation mechanism of reproductive isolation in distant hybrids.

Zhangjun Fei received his Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from Texas A&M University in 2003 and has been working on bioinformatics research at Cornell University since 2006.

Xiang Gao, the professor and doctoral supervisor, received a Ph.D. in cell biology at the Northeast Normal University in 2010. Prof. Gao is mainly engaged in the research of transcriptional regulation of important agronomic traits in economic plants. Prof. Gao is now leading one National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project, one National Key Research and Development Program sub-project, and one NSFC youth project. Prof. Gao has edited 2 textbooks, participated in the development of several new flower varieties and obtained 2 invention patents.

Qingmei Guan received a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Maryland in 2013. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland from 2013 to 2014 and worked in the School of Horticulture of Northwestern A & F University in 2014. She is a candidate of the National Young Talent Project and the Shaanxi Provincial Talent Program, and has been approved by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Shaanxi Youth Science and Technology New Star Project. She is engaged in the research on Molecular mechanisms of plant responses to abiotic stress (extreme temperatures and drought stress) and Molecular marker-assisted apple breeding at whole-genome level with stress- resistant traits.

Wei Guo is assistant professor at field phenotyping laboratory, University of Tokyo. His research interests include the application of image signal processing, pattern recognition and machine learning techniques in crop phenomics and smart agriculture. He is director of the Japan Agricultural Information Society (JASI), vice president of the Artificial Intelligence Division, director of the Japan Phenotyping Society (JPPN), visiting researcher in the field of intelligent plant factories at Chiba University, Japan, visiting researcher of the Smart Agriculture Team at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and associate Editor of Plant Methods and Plant Phonemics.

Wenwu Guo is mainly engaged in citrus cell engineering and genetic improvement research, including cell engineering innovation germplasm and new variety cultivation, cell engineering new germplasm excellent character analysis and molecular breeding. He was selected as the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund (2012-2015), the national special branch plan scientific and technological innovation leader, the middle-aged and young scientific and technological innovation leader of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the national agricultural scientific research outstanding talent of the Ministry of Agriculture (2016-2020). And lead "Horticultural Plant Cell Engineering and Germplasm Innovation" Innovation team of the Ministry of Education and Hubei Innovation Group, "Citrus Cell Engineering and genetic improvement" Innovation team of the Ministry of Agriculture. He has won the China Youth Science and Technology Award, the second National Science and Technology Progress Award (the third adult, 2006), and the technological innovation and new variety cultivation of citrus cell engineering breeding won the first prize of technological invention in Hubei Province (the first adult, 2019). He is the co-editor of the international SCI publication "Scientia Horticulturae" and the editorial board of "Plant Cell Tissue Organ Culture", "Tree Genetics Genomes" Associate Editor, "Journal of Integrative Agriculture", "China Agricultural Science" and "Fruit Tree Journal". Member of the 7th discipline Review Group (Horticulture) of the academic degree Committee of the State Council; Vice Chairman of Molecular breeding Branch of Chinese Society of Horticulture. He has National Natural Science Foundation (Jieqing, key, key international cooperation, etc.), Ministry of Science and Technology 973 Program Project, 863 Program Project, Ministry of Education project (Innovation team, Major Project cultivation Plan, New Century Outstanding talents, Fok Ying Tung Young Teachers Fund, doctoral Fund and priority projects), Ministry of Agriculture Public Welfare Industry Research Project, Hubei Natural Science Foundation (Jieqing, key, Innovation Group), More than 30 projects such as Swedish International Science Foundation.

Yuepeng Han received a Ph. D. in crop genetics from Yangzhou University in 2004 and went to do postdoctoral research, mainly engaged in apple BAC library construction, physical map construction, molecular marker development and genetic map construction, functional gene isolation and other genomics research, and won preferential support in 2010. In recent years, more than 50 papers related to molecular genetics of fruit trees have been published in Plant Physiology, Plant Journal, Journal Experimental Botany, Genetics, Critical Review in Plant Science, BMC Genomics, Plant Molecular Biology and other journals.

Hanhui Kuang received a Ph. D from University of Georgia in 1988，he visited the Forestry Research Institute of New Zealand and Berkeley, University of California. He is the post-doctor at the Davis, University of California and University of Haifa. He mainly studies the genetic and molecular mechanism of the specific shape of vegetables. The topics include the genetic and molecular mechanism of the formation of heading characters in lettuce, mustard and cabbage, the genetic and molecular mechanism of leaf type formation in lettuce, mustard mustard and cabbage, and the cloning of stem size control genes in stem vegetables (lettuce, mustard, turnip). And the important characters such as flowering control mechanism and domestication in lettuce. He has cooperated with other research groups to study the metabolic genomics of lettuce.

Bingbing Li is engaged in fruit tree physiology and molecular biology research. She has presided over 1 youth project and 2 surface projects of the National Nature Fund, doctoral Foundation of the Ministry of Education, Fok Ying Tung Youth Fund and other provincial and ministerial-level scientific research projects. She has published related research work in Plant Physiology, New Phytologist and Journal of Experimental Botany journals. Also, she has participated in the compilation of 4 Chinese and English academic works or teaching materials, and obtained 4 invention patents.

Li Li is a USDA-ARS Research Molecular Biologist at the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health on the Cornell campus.Her research is on improving the nutritional quality of food crops. Her research program focuses on gene discovery, understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of phytonutrient (phytochemical) metabolism, micronutrient nutrition, plant biotechnology, and biofortification of food crops.

Li Wei is an associate professor in the Department of Fruit trees, School of Horticulture, China Agricultural University. Research direction of fruit tree biotechnology and germplasm innovation. As the main adult, the techniques of flower formation control, rootstock sprouting inhibition and CRISPR/Cas9 transient expression were successfully developed by transgenic technology and genome editing technology. Eight SCI papers have been published in Plant Biotechnology Journal, Horticulture Research, Frontiers in Plant Science and other journals, including one or five parallel papers.

School of Life Sciences Building, District B, Chongqing University, 174 Shazheng Street, Shapingba District, Chongqing

Zhengguo Li is a postdoctoral fellow of the French Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He visited and conducted collaborative research at the National University of Technology in Toulouse, France. Now mainly engaged in plant biotechnology and food biotechnology research. Research direction are plant hormone signal transduction mechanism, fruit and vegetable development mechanism and senescence regulation, plant stress resistance genetic engineering and food biotechnology. Now he is the academic leader of Chongqing discipline, the deputy head of Chongqing genetically modified biosafety expert advisory committee, a member of Chongqing science and technology advisory panel, a member of Chongqing food expert committee, the head of botany discipline and academic leader of Chongqing University. Vice chairman of International Society of Food, Agriculture and Environment (ISFAE: International Society of Food, Agriculture and Environment) Postharvest Science and Technology Branch); Director of Postharvest Science and Technology Branch of Chinese Society of Horticulture; Vice Chairman of Food and Environment Branch of Chongqing Analytical and testing Society; Vice Chairman of Chongqing Botanical Society. Editorial Board of International academic Journal Food, Agriculture & Environment, editorial Board of Molecular Plant breeding and Preservation and processing Magazine. He is served as the reviewer of New Phytologist, Plant Physiology, Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Science, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology and other international journals. In recent years, more than 110 research papers have been published in domestic and foreign academic journals, of which more than 50 papers have been published in Plant Cell, Plant Journal, New Phytologist, Plant Molecular Biology, Journal of Experimental Botany and other famous journals, 7 textbooks and monographs have been published, and 8 national invention patents have been declared.

Zhenchang Liang received a Ph. D. from Institue of Botany, Chinese Academy of Science in 2009. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University / Department of Agriculture Grape Genetics Research Center from 2009 to 2013. From 2013 to now, he is a Professor of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a director of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, the director of the Youth Branch of the Chinese Society of Horticulture and a member of fruit tree physiology and heredity research group, key laboratory of resources, institute of botany, Chinese academy of sciences. He mainly engaged in fruit tree / grape breeding and molecular genetic research. Explore the regulation mechanism of grape fruit ripening, analyze the molecular mechanism of fruit quality formation, carry out systematic research on grape genome and functional genomics, construct grape big data platform, and provide theoretical basis for grape molecular assistant / design breeding. at the same time, new grape varieties with high resistance and high quality were selected by conventional breeding system. More than 30 papers have been published in Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Euphytica, BMC Plant Biology, Food Chemistry, etc. 

Jianxiu Liu is the first batch of young and middle-aged science and technology leaders in Jiangsu Province's "333 High-level Talent training Project". Experts who enjoy the special allowance of the State Council. In 2000, he went to the United States Department of Agriculture as a senior visiting scholar. Director of ornamental Plant Research Center, Vice Chairman of China Lawn academic Committee, member of Grass Variety approval Committee of Ministry of Agriculture. She is mainly engaged in the evaluation and breeding of turfgrass germplasm resources, and carries out the research and development of germplasm resources such as ornamental grass, forage grass and energy grass at the same time. In recent years, he has presided over more than 30 national, provincial (municipal) and international cooperation projects, and is responsible for the trial station in Nanjing, one of the six regional trials of turfgrass in China. The main research directions include molecular markers, gene mapping and cloning of important characters of turfgrass; genetic analysis and improvement of stress resistance (cold, salt, drought) of turfgrass, breeding, demonstration and promotion of new varieties of high quality and stress-resistant turfgrass, collection and comprehensive evaluation of tall grass germplasm resources in China. She has published more than 150 papers and edited 5 works in "Crop Science", "HortScience", "Economy Botany", "Acta Horticulturae", "Newsletter of Plant Genetic Resource", "Journal of Grass Industry" and other journals. Won one second prize for agricultural scientific and technological progress, one first prize for scientific and technological progress in Jiangsu Province, one third prize for scientific and technological progress in Jiangsu Province, one second prize for scientific and technological progress in the fourth China Flower Expo, and one Science and Technology Progress Award in the Seventh China Flower Expo. Presided over the selection and breeding of more than 20 new varieties (lines) of turfgrass, ornamental grass and forage grass, passed the national examination and approval of 3 new varieties, and obtained 2 national authorized invention patents.

Jihong Liu received a Ph. D. from Huazhong Agricultural University in 1999. He has visited and conducted cooperative research at the National Institute of Fruit trees (Tsukuba) in Japan for four times funded by the Japan academic Promotion Association ((JSPS)). He is a Down Scholar of Cornell University in the United States (2013-2014). Currently, he is a director of Chinese Society of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology, subtropical and South Subtropical Fruit Branch of Chinese Society of Horticulture, Hubei Society of Plant Physiology and Hubei Citrus Society. He has been selected as the New Century Talent support Program of the Ministry of Education (2006), Wuhan discipline Leader Plan (2011), Agricultural Scientific Research Outstanding talents of the Ministry of Agriculture (2011), and the first-level candidate of Hubei Province's High-level Talent Project in the New Century (2012). He has successively presided over the National Natural Science Foundation (1 major international cooperation, 6 projects). Youth Fund 1), Ministry of Agriculture 948 Project, Public Welfare Industry (Agriculture) Scientific Research Project (Sub-project), 863 Program (Sub-project), Ministry of Education New Century Talent support Program Project, Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation preferred funding Project, Ministry of Education doctoral Program Fund, Ministry of Education Science and Technology Research key projects, International Science Fund, Hubei Natural Science Foundation (Youth Outstanding Talent Fund, There are more than 30 projects, such as the surface projects and key projects), the agricultural industrial technology system of Hubei Province, the scientific research start-up fund of the Ministry of Education for those who have returned from abroad, and the Morninglight Plan of Wuhan City. More than 60 SCI papers have been published as the first author or correspondent author, and six national invention patents have been approved (all of them are the first complete adults). Serves as the editorial board of PLoS One, Gene, Acta Physiologiae Plantarum and other magazines.

Dr. Mingchun Liu is currently a Professor of Plant Physiology at Sichuan University, China. He received his Ph.D. in plant development at the University of Toulouse, France. He serves as a member of scientific committee of the ETHYLENE 2021 conference and the member of the Scientific Committee and the SOLANACEAE 2020 international conference. His research program deals with the study of fleshy fruit development, and particularly with developmental shifts with a main interest on the transition from immature to mature (the so-called fruit ripening). The research focus is on genes involved in hormone signalling and cross-talk during fruit ripening. It aims at deciphering the regulatory mechanisms underlying the fruit developmental transitions and at identifying key genetic factors controlling sensory and nutritional fruit quality. The outcomes of his research have been published more than 30 papers in high-ranking journals such as Molecular Plant, Plant Physiology, New Phytologist, Plant Journal, PNAS, PLoS Genetics.

Wenge Liu graduated from Northwest Science and Technology University of Agriculture and Forestry in 2003 with a doctorate in agronomy, a polyploid breeding scientist in the national melon industrial technology system. He is the chief scientist of the cultivation and physiological innovation team of muskmelon at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the leader of the national research and production cooperation group for seedless watermelons, outstanding talents at the third level of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, editorial board of periodicals such as "Fruit Tree Journal", "Chinese melons and vegetables" and "Yangtze River vegetables". Member of the International Society of Gourd Genetics. Senior visiting scholar from Texas University of Texas and Guelph University in Canada, winner of special subsidy from Henan Provincial Government, Deputy Director of Watermelon Research and Development Center of Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and head of polyploid watermelon breeding group. His research interests are vegetable breeding and biotechnology. Mainly engaged in watermelon polyploid breeding, cultivation physiology and biotechnology research, established a set of in vitro doubling to create new watermelon tetraploid germplasm, established the first watermelon fruit metabolic bank, and made a breakthrough in watermelon polyploid genetics and breeding, watermelon genome resequencing, GWAS/mGWAS, stress resistance mechanism, metabonomics, lycopene, citrulline and other functional components. It has a certain influence in the industry.

Weizhen Liu received a Ph. D. in crop genetics and breeding from Washington State University in 2016. She is a postdoctoral fellow in crop phenotyping at Cornell University and crop Genetics and breeding at Washington State University. The research interests are big data Mining in Agriculture, crop Genomics, crop Phenoomics (computer Vision). In 2017, she won the Jenny Bragg Wheat Young Scientist Achievement Award awarded by (BGRI), a global rust collaboration. She's still. He is also a freelance translator of crop Science Section of China knowledge Network and a reviewer of 15 SCI magazines such as Theoretical and Applied Genetics.

Zhenhua Liu received his doctorate from the French National Academy of Sciences-University of Strasbourg in 2014. He is a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University in the United States and the John Inners Center in the United Kingdom. Research interests: molecular evolution mechanism of synthesis and diversity of plant natural products. Current work is focused on plants from the Brassicaceae family and systematically study the function, evolution and biosynthesis of metabolic pathways from this family. We are also interested in pathways encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). It holds great potential to mine more and novel biosynthetic pathways efficiently. However, how and why plants have evolved BGCs remain less understood. We are collabrating with Prof. Anne Osbourn from John Innes Centre and aim to understand their assembly, patterns of evolution and common features in a systematic fashion.

Dr. Wusheng Liu is an assistant professor in Translational Genomics and Plant Bioengineering within the Department of Horticultural Science. The Liu laboratory is interested in i) development of novel approaches for non-GMO, genotype-independent delivery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system into crops for gene editing; ii) understanding of the molecular mechanisms of agronomic traits including seed size in Arabidopsis, soybean and camelina, tomato fruit lycopene content, and potato internal heat necrosis; and iii) crop trait engineering using genetic engineering and gene editing such as modified flowering patterns in camelina and rose rosette virus resistance. The Liu laboratory is also interested in computational tool-assisted de novo motif discovery and synthetic promoter engineering.

Fengwang Ma received a Ph. D. in pomology from Northwest Agricultural University in 1996. Currently, he is the Dean of the School of Horticulture and Apple Research Institute of Northwest A & F University, the Deputy Director of State key Laboratory of crop stress Biology in Arid areas and Director of Resource Innovation and Variety Design, the Director of Shaanxi Apple key Laboratory, the Director of International Joint Apple Research Center, and Chief expert of Luochuan Apple Experimental Station in Yan'an City, Northwest A & F University. He is also the vice chairman of the Apple Branch of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, the vice chairman of the Shaanxi Horticultural Society, a vice director of the Shaanxi Fruit Variety approval Committee, a member of the Shaanxi Forest Variety approval Committee, and the editorial board of journals such as the Chinese and English editions of the Journal of Horticulture. The research interest is about apple stress biology, mainly focusing on the drought, salinity, chilling, low nitrogen and also biotic stresses in the Loess Plateau, the major apple production area of China. The research topics include 1) Identification of special germplasms and genes in Malus, 2) Physiological and molecular mechanism of stress resistance, 3) Fruit quality regulation under stress conditions, 4) Apple breeding, 5) Malus stress resistant germplasm innovation 6) Efficient utilization of fertilizer and water for apple in arid area.

Nan Ma is doctor and professor, whose research area is the development physiology and efficient cultivation of ornamental plants. Mainly focused on the molecular physiological mechanism of rose flower opening and senescence, Prof. Ma has published more than 10 SCI papers in Plant Physiology, Plant Journal and other journals.

Ray Ming received a Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii, America, whose teaching interests are human genome and bioinformatics, plant molecular biology and plant genomics. Ray Ming is researching on evolution of primitive sex chromosomes, genome structure of papaya, sugarcane, coffee and pineapple. 

Michitaka Notaguchi earned his Ph.D. in the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University in 2009. He studied at the University of California, Davis, and was a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow. 2012: Research Fellow, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, and JST ERATO Higashiyama Live Holonics Project Research Fellow. 2015: Project Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, and JST PRESTO Research Fellow. 2016: Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University; Collaborative Researcher, Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM), Nagoya University; Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers, MEXT. Since 2019, he has been in his current position. He is working on the mechanism of plant grafting and systemic signal transduction.

Nathalie Ollat is a research engineer at the Ecophysiology and Functional Genomics of the Vine joint research unit (EGFV) at INRA Bordeaux. Specialised for over 15 years in the study and improvement of grape vine rootstocks, she recently began analysing the impact of climate change on viticulture.

Dr. Peace is a Professor in Tree Fruit Genetics at Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA. His research program brings the benefits of natural diversity and the genomics age to fruit breeding via DNA-based information. He enjoys training current and future breeding personnel and allied scientists in modern genetics approaches. In Pullman, he oversees the student-run Palouse Wild Cider Apple Breeding Program. Dr. Peace was Project Co-Director of RosBREED, a large, multi-institution research project (2009–2019) committed to enabling DNA-informed breeding for the Rosaceae family of crops.

Yonghua Qin is the doctor, professor and master/doctoral supervisor, whose main research areas include collection, evaluation and new varieties selection of citrus, dragon fruit and other fruit tree germplasm resources; screening, identification and mechanism analysis of key genes regulating the biosynthesis of dragon fruit betaine; safe and efficient cultivation technology of dragon fruit and citrus.

Robert Schaffer is specialized in plant molecular science and the current research focus of his lab is fruit texture.  The research themes for his potential projects cover three main areas: fruit ripening, fruit cell walls, and flesh development and fruit size. 

Kai Shi received a Ph. D. from the Department of Horticulture, Zhejiang University in 2007. She is the winner of the National Outstanding Youth Science Foundation and Zhejiang Outstanding Youth Science Foundation. The research interests are mainly focused on: Molecular basis of plant-pathogen interaction in response to different environment, Role of plant hormone homeostasis in response to environmental stress and its regulation, Function and underlying mechanism of plant peptide in plant growth, development, and resilience in response to environmental stress. More than 40 SCI papers have been published in Plant Cell, New Phytologist and other journals, and more than 20 national invention patents have been authorized. The major adults have won the second prize for national scientific and technological progress, the first prize for scientific and technological progress of the Ministry of Education, and the first prize for scientific and technological progress in Zhejiang Province.

Dr. A.K. Srivastava, having received his M.Sc.(Ag) and Ph.D in Soil Science from  world famous Banaras Hindu University, in 1984 and 1988, respectively, is currently perched as Principal Scientist (Soil Science) at Central Citrus Research Institute (Formerly, National Research Centre for Citrus, Nagpur  under Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. He has extensively pursued research work on different aspects of citrus nutrition like nutrient constraints analysis of citrus orchards by developing DRIS-based soil-plant nutrient diagnostics, orchard efficiency modeling, targeted yield-based site specific nutrient management exploiting spatial variability in soil fertility, citrus rhizosphere specific microbial consortium and soil carbon loading, INM module, fertigation scheduling, nutrient mapping using geospatial tools, nutrient dynamic studies, transformation of soil microbial biomass nutrients within citrus rhizosphere and soil  fertility map as decision support tool for fertilizer recommendation. Handled   30   projects and 13 Principal Investigator and 17 projects as Co-Principal Investigator, exclusively on FRUIT NUTRITION. Evaluated 55 M.Sc. thesis and 22 Ph.D thesis. Acted as co-guide of 12 M.Sc. and 4 Ph.D students.

Meg Staton received a Ph. D in Environmental Science with Minor in Genetics from Clemson University. She is developing genetic and genomic tools for a variety of important North American hardwood tree species. These resources enable elucidation of the molecular basis of tree response to stresses including heat, drought, ozone, and introduced pests and pathogens. Specifically, she is interested in American chestnut, black walnut and oak species, all of which have critical diseases with major economic and ecological implications. She is also interested in the public dissemination of research data through online knowledge databases, particularly in increasing communication from scientists to the general public. She developed and host a public website that provides open access for scientific researchers for hardwood tree data, such as genome sequences, differential gene expression profiles, DNA markers, QTL maps and physical maps (http://www.hardwoodgenomics.org). Through the integration of outreach activities and newsletters, the site also provides a critical information source for the public about ongoing tree threats and publicly funded initiatives to understand and combat these threats.

Sun Lidan received a Ph. D in landscape plants and ornamental horticulture from the School of Landscape Architecture, Beijing Forestry University in 2013. She is mainly engaged in the excavation and breeding of plum blossom germplasm resources and the analysis of genetic mechanism of complex characters of woody plants. She is in charge of the National Nature Fund Youth Fund, the National Nature Fund, the Beijing Science and Technology New Star Program and the medium-and long-term scientific research of young teachers of Beijing Forestry University. She participated in eight research projects, such as the National 863 Program, the Science and Technology support Plan, and the forestry public welfare industry project. 20 SCI articles were published, including 15 first authors and co-authors, 9 IF > 5 papers and 4 IF > 10 papers, with a total impact factor of 108.31. They won 2 national invention patents and 1 new plum blossom variety protection, participated in the formulation of forestry industry standards, and won 10 national, provincial and ministerial-level and school-level academic awards such as the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the Outstanding Achievement Award in Scientific Research in Colleges and Universities and the Beijing Science and Technology Award. Innovative research achievements have been made in the construction of the whole genome fine map of plum blossom, the whole genome association analysis of plum blossom, the statistical model of metachronous genes and the systematic mapping of complex characters of woody plants.

Xiaorong Tao received a Ph. D. in biotechnology from Zhejiang University in 2004. He is a postdoctoral student at Ohio State University in the United States. His research interests are plant virology, including. (1) examination and quarantine of plant viruses (including internal and external inspection); (2) replication, movement and pathogenic molecular mechanism of plant viruses in cells; (3) resistance mechanism of plants to viruses and anti-defense mechanism of viruses to plants; (4) antiviral genetic engineering; (5) prevention and control of important dangerous virus diseases.

Xiaowu Wang received a Ph. D. from Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences 1998. During his work, he served as Secretary-General of vegetable Professional Committee of Chinese Horticultural Society, Secretary-General of Cruciferae Branch, Chief Editor of Horticultural Plant Journal, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in Plant Sciences, etc. He has been engaged in the research of molecular genetics and genomics of vegetable crops, as well as the genetics and breeding of cabbage and cabbage for a long time. He won two second prizes for national scientific and technological progress (the fourth and fifth adults respectively) and one award for Huanai Science and Technology of the Horticultural Society (the first adult). More than 100 research papers have been published as responsible authors, of which more than 50 have been published in Nature Genetics, The Plant Cell and other SCI journals, and have been cited more than 1500 times by Science, the Plant Cell and other domestic and foreign academic journals. It has been awarded the title of National Talent Engineering candidate, Outstanding Talent in Agricultural Research, Taishan Scholar and so on.

Pasquale Tripodi received a Ph.D. in genetic and horticultural improvement at the Faculty of Agriculture of Portici (NA) and has been a researcher confirmed at the Research Centre for Horticulture, Pontecagnano (SA) since 2012.

Qiang Xu joined Huazhong Agricultural University to engage in teaching and scientific research in 2007. He is mainly engaged in the regulation and genetic improvement of fruit quality, the exploration and utilization of Huanglong disease resistant gene resources, and the development of genome database tools and its breeding application. His team made a breakthrough in citrus genome research by cloning apomixis genes controlling "polyembryonic" citrus and fruit color regulation genes, the results of which were published in important international journals such as Nature Genetics, Nature Plants and Molecular Plant. In 2009 and 2018, he went to Cornell (Cornell) University to conduct collaborative research. Part-time Vice Chairman of Chinese Horticultural Society Youth Branch, editorial Board of Molecular Breeding Publications, editorial Board of Horticultural Plant Journal, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Huazhong Agricultural University. He has more than 10 national natural science funds (youth, noodles and outstanding youth), national key R & D projects, Ministry of Science and Technology 973 subprojects, 863 subprojects, Huo Yingdong Young Teachers Fund, Hubei Natural Science Foundation and so on.

Zhengming Wang, professor, received his PhD in biology from Tsinghua University. He obtained postdoc training in University of Cambridge, working on tomato small RNA and epigenetics. Since 2021, he has been working at College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University. His lab mainly focuses on transposon breeding in tomato. As a first author, he has published papers in Nat Commun, Genes Dev, Mol Plant and other journals.

Vance Whitaker received a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Molecular Genetics from University of Minnesota in 2009. As associate professor of horticulture, Dr. Whitaker develops strawberry varieties for Florida, working closely with Florida Foundation Seed Producers, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association and Ekland Marketing Company to license and market UF/IFAS varieties in Florida and around the world.

Yunxin Yao received a Ph. D in Fruit Science from the School of Horticultural Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University in June 2006, and stayed in July 2006 to engage in scientific research and teaching. From May 2011 to April 2013, he was engaged in postdoctoral research at the School of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University. He worked as a visiting scholar at South Dakota State University from May 2013 to April 2014. Mainly engaged in the study of secondary metabolism and abiotic stress resistance of grape fruits. The related research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National key Research and Development Program, the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, the key Research and Development Program of Shandong Province and so on. Published more than 30 articles in "Plant Biotechnology Journal", "Food Chemistry", "Frontiers in Plant Science" and other publications. Won 1 national invention patent. Deputy editor-in-chief 1 textbook of the 13th five-year Plan and 1 other academic works. He has won the honorary titles of "Young Post expert of Shandong Agricultural University", "innovative talents of Rizhao City", "Outstanding Communist Party member" and "Young Civilization", and guided one excellent master's degree thesis in Shandong Province.

Yuncong Yao received a Ph. D in horticulture from China Agricultural University and taught at Beijing Agricultural College in June 1987. He was a senior visiting scholar at Ohio State University / Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in the United States. He has served as head of horticulture department, director of academic administration and assistant dean of Beijing Agricultural College. In April 2007, he was appointed Vice President of Beijing Agricultural College. He serves as a member of the Horticulture Committee of the Teaching steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, a member of the Beijing crop Variety approval Committee, a standing director of the facilities Branch of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, a standing Director of the Apricot and Plum Society of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, and a member of the Apple Branch of the Chinese Society of Horticulture. Main research interests: mainly engaged in horticulture teaching, scientific research and technical promotion. Focus on biostatistics and advanced fruit tree physiology. The research direction is the utilization and innovation of fruit tree germplasm resources. This paper focuses on the evaluation of color and stress resistance of apple germplasm resources, and studies on pollution-free production technology, organic cultivation technology and mechanism of apple and pear. More than 60 books (departments) of teaching materials, works, standards and popular science books have been published, and more than 200 academic papers have been published, of which more than 50 SCI papers have been published in Plant Biotechnology Journal, Scientific Reports, Plant Cell and Physiology, Horticulture Research, Frontiers in Plant Science and other magazines; 9 national invention patents have been authorized and 12 new varieties of ornamental begonia have been bred.

Wenxiu Ye is an assistant professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, he also serves as a guest associate editor of Frontiers in Plant Science and an associate evaluator of Faculty Opinions. The research mainly uses cash crops and Arabidopsis as materials, and uses electrophysiology, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry and genetics to study the molecular mechanisms of plant endogenous and environmental signals regulating stomatal movement, and develop related Stoma control technology serves the sustainable development of agriculture.

Xueren Yin received a Ph. D from the Institute of Fruit trees, School of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University in 2020. He is a Ph. D. in co-training of plant and video graduate students in New Zealand. As a visiting scholar, he has visited Cornell University twice. Research interests: fruit quality and biological basis of storage and preservation. Main research topics: fruit quality formation and regulation, fruit quality maintenance and storage, plant hormone metabolism and regulation, environmental response mechanism, storage and preservation technology. As the first author / correspondent author, he ha s published a series of academic papers in "Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences", "New Phytologist", "Plant Physiology", "The Plant Journal", "Journal of Experimental Botany", "Plant Biotechnology Journal", "Plant, Cell & Environment", "Food Chemistry", "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry", "Planta", "Postharvest Biology and Technology" and other journals. Has won the National Outstanding Youth Fund, the Ministry of Education Huo Yingdong Young Teachers Fund, the National 100 excellent doctoral thesis nomination Award. He is also deputy editor of Postharvest Biology and Technology (Assoc Editor, SCI, TOP), New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science (Assoc Editor, SCI), Horticulturae editorial board (Editor, SCI), Future Food Science, vice chairman of Chinese Horticultural Society Youth Branch, standing director of Chinese Society of Horticulture Persimmon Branch, standing director of Science and Technology Innovation Alliance of National Forestry and grassland Bureau (Persimmon Industry National Innovation Alliance).

Yunde Zhao’s team focuses on the plant hormone auxin, which regulates almost every aspect of plant growth and development. His laboratory mainly works on two areas of auxin biology: 1) auxin biosynthesis and its regulation, 2) the roles of auxin in axillary meristem development and plant organogenesis. We have elucidated the main auxin biosynthesis pathway in Arabidopsis and identified YUC flavin monooxygenases as key enzymes for auxin biosynthesis. They currently investigate the allosteric regulation of YUC enzymes and characterize the transcription factors that control the expression of YUC genes. They conducted a genetic screen for enhancers / suppressors of yuc mutants and uncovered a novel signaling pathway that is essential for the formation of lateral organs in Arabidopsis. They are continuing to clone and characterize additional yuc enhancers / suppressors to establish a genetic framework for plant organogenesis. they are also developing tools to spatially and temporally control auxin production.

Bo Zhang is a young Qiushi scholar of Zhejiang University. Deputy Director of the College of undergraduates of Zhejiang University (dual College Program), head of Horticulture Department, Deputy Director of Fruit Tree Science Research Institute. Selected into the national "Ten Thousand talents Plan" young top talent. He is also the executive director of the Youth Branch of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, the Deputy Director of the flowering, maturing and Senescence Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, and the Secretary-General of Zhejiang Horticultural Society. He is a young expert member of Zhejiang Rural Development Professional Committee, a member of the presidium of Zhejiang Association of Science and Technology Rural Revitalization Society, and the deputy leader of Zhejiang fruit industry technological innovation and extension service team. He mainly studied the molecular mechanism of the formation and regulation of fruit aroma quality. He has successively presided over the National Natural Science Foundation, the National key Research and Development Program, the National 863 Program, the National Science and Technology support Plan and other provincial and ministerial-level scientific research projects. The related research results have published more than 80 academic papers in PNAS, Science, Genome Biology, Plant Physiology, New Phytologist, Plant Biotechnology Journal, The Plant Journal, Plant Cell and Environment, Journal of Experimental Botany and other journals, obtained 7 authorized national invention patents and participated in the formulation of local standards. He has successively organized domestic academic conferences such as the "Young academic Conference on the Frontier basic Research of Horticultural plants". As chairman of the sub-venue or representative of the formal meeting, he was invited to attend international conferences such as International Horticulture Congress, Plant hormone Ethylene International Conference, Pacific Rim Chemical Conference and so on, and gave oral reports for more than 10 times. He serves as editorial board of SCI journals Post harvest Biology and Technology and Frontiers in Plant Science and Journal of Zhejiang University (Agriculture and Life Sciences Edition).

Yuelin Zhang received a B.S. in Genetics from the Fudan University, China and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Oklahoma State University, USA.  Yuelin Zhang, an assistant professor (honorary appointment) at Michael Smith Laboratories, UBC and an assistant and associate investigator at the National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, is interested in how local resistance and systemic acquired resistance are regulated in plants, with his research focused on signal transduction pathways downstream of plant immune receptors, and systemic acquired resistance.  

Zhihong Zhang is a special professor in Liaoning. He is now a second-class professor and doctoral supervisor in the School of Horticulture, Shenyang Agricultural University, and the academic leader in horticulture plant biotechnology in the first-tier discipline of horticulture. He is also the vice chairman of Strawberry Branch of Chinese Society of Horticulture, the editorial board of "Journal of Fruit trees" and "Journal of Shenyang Agricultural University". He has been engaged in teaching and scientific research in horticultural biotechnology and genetics and breeding. He has successively presided over more than 20 projects, including 5 projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published 131 papers in academic journals at home and abroad, of which 24 papers have been cited by SCI in English journals such as "Science", "Planta" and "Tree Genetics & Genomes". Among the graduate thesis instructed, two won the excellent doctoral thesis of Liaoning Province and one won the excellent master thesis of Liaoning Province. He edited monographs such as Modern Fruit Tree Biology, and revised the textbook "General introduction to Horticultural Plant breeding" (second edition) as deputy editor. Presided over the breeding of 3 new varieties of strawberries.

Zhonghua Zhang received a Ph.D. in bioinformatics from Zhejiang University in 2006. He is engaged in the research of vegetable genetics and breeding. Chief of vegetable functional Genomics Innovation team, Deputy Director of Biotechnology Research Office, member of Central State Youth Federation and member of standing Committee of all-China Youth Federation, Institute of vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Dr. Yongfeng Zhou, research professor, obtained his PhD degree from the University of Oulu in 2014. From 2014 to 2020, he did a postdoc in University of California, Irvine, working on population genomics of crop domestication and breeding. Now he is dedicated to crop population genomics and breeding by combining genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, phenomics, environmental variables and machine learning. He had published more than 20 papers. As a first/corresponding author, he has published 12 papers in journals such as Nature Plants, PNAS, and MBE.

He received his doctorate from China Agricultural University in 2008 and is a postdoctoral student at Texas A & M University and Texas University of Technology. His research fields and directions are postharvest physiology and molecular biology of fruits and vegetables, regulation of nutrients metabolism of fruits and vegetables, and mechanism of fruit development and ripening.

Yushi Luan received a Ph. D in botany from Northeast normal University in 1997. His research directions were plant genetic engineering: exploring, discovering and cloning important genes; mastering the characteristics and functions of genes with the help of overexpression and silencing techniques; reasonably and effectively using functional genes to serve agricultural production and people's life. Interaction between plants and microorganisms: to find out the mechanism of harmful (beneficial) bacteria, fungi and viruses in the process of infecting plants, so as to lay a foundation for ensuring the healthy and rapid growth of plants. Regulation and function of non-coding RNA: to identify plant non-coding RNA, to clarify its function and mechanism; to construct and improve related regulatory networks through the study of non-coding RNA genomics; to contribute to the revelation of the mysteries of life. After years of work accumulation and the unremitting efforts of teachers and students, six national natural science funds have successively supported. With the help of bioinformatics analysis and molecular biology experiments and other technical means, a series of key transcription factors and non-coding RNA, have been discovered and identified, and many breakthrough research results have been achieved. Six papers have been classified as highly cited in its academic field by ESI (Essential Science Indicators), and there are still 4 papers left.

Dr. Steven van Nocker, a Professor in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, USA, received a B.S. in Biology and Genetics from Cornell University, USA and a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin, USA. His research focuses on the developmental genetics of traits important for horticultural crop production including flowering, as well as the regulation of gene expression during development. This academic background and research experience in the field of horticulture and molecular biology is well suited for the current and future editorial needs of Horticulture Research. Dr. van Nocker was one of the inaugural Associate Editors and has played a significant role in building Horticulture Research as a leading international journal in horticulture, plant science, and genetics. To date, he has handled over 60 manuscripts as Associate Editor, and has participated in the review of many additional manuscripts.

Aisheng Xiong took part in the work in September 2000 and was promoted to assistant researcher, associate researcher and researcher (professor) in 2002, 2004 and 2006 respectively, and was selected as doctoral supervisor in 2008. He went to Canada and the United States successively to engage in visiting research. In May 2011, he was introduced to the College of Horticulture of Nanjing Agricultural University as a high-level talent, mainly engaged in vegetable developmental biology, vegetable functional genomics, vegetable genetic engineering and so on. Winners of the Outstanding Youth Fund of Jiangsu Province, the mass entrepreneurship and innovation Program for the introduction of High-level talents in Jiangsu Province, and the New Century Talent Project of the Ministry of Education. He has successively presided over nearly 20 national, provincial and ministerial-level scientific research projects, such as the National 863 Project, the Agricultural Achievement Transformation Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National GMO Major Sub-Project, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the China-Canada International Cooperation Project. In 2008, the host won the first prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Award (Technology Invention Award) (the first adult). He was selected into Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Star (Class A) and Kai Star tracking Program in 2005 and 2008 respectively, and won the honorable title of Shanghai New long March Raider in 2005-2006. Since 2000, the first author and correspondent have published more than 40 SCI papers, including "Crit Rev Biotechnol", "PLOS ONE", "Nat Protoc", "Nucleic Acids Res", "Biol Chem", "Biotechnol Adv", "FEMS Microbio Rev", "Protein Eng Des Sel", "Appl Microbiol Biotechnol", "J Appl Microbiol", "Plant Cell Rep", "Biochem Biophys Res Commun" and so on. The first author and correspondent author have published more than 30 Chinese papers, including Journal of Genetics, Genetics, Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, Journal of Fruit trees, Journal of Horticulture, Chinese Journal of Oil crops and Journal of Northwest Botanical Sciences. In addition, he participated in the publication of more than 50 SCI papers. He has been invited to participate in an English monograph and is a special reviewer of many journals at home and abroad.

Sumei Chen recived a Ph. D from Department of Horticulture, Chiba University, Japan in 2007. She used to be a visiting scholar at the University of California, Riverside. Now she is the vice dean of the School of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University. She is also vice chairman of the Professional Committee on Horticultural Therapy and Landscape Care, the director of Jiangsu Botanical Society Executive, the director of molecular breeding branch of Chinese horticultural society, the director of China Chrysanthemum Research and the Association Deputy Secretary-General of Jiangsu Flower and Tree Industry Union. Her research interests are ornamental plant stress and developmental biology which are include ornamental plant stress physiology and molecular biology ornamental plant development molecublar biology ornamental plant pest control and postharvest quality maintenance technology research and development. More than 150 research papers have been published, including 6 authorized invention patents for the first adult, 4 new plant variety rights, 2 identified varieties and 2 standards.

Xilin Hou received a Ph. D in vegetables from the Department of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University in 1998. From 2005 to 2013, he served as the 10th and 11th vice president of the Chinese Society of Horticulture, and is now deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of Horticulture. He is currently a member of the Seventh discipline Review Group of the academic degree Committee of the State Council, the Vice Chairman of the Horticulture Teaching guidance Sub-Committee of the Ministry of Education for Plant production Specialty, and a member of the National steering Committee for Postgraduate Education of Agricultural degrees. He is the director of the Engineering Research Center for Germplasm Innovation and Utilization of Horticultural crops of the Ministry of Education, the director of the key Laboratory of Biology and Germplasm creation of Horticultural crops in East China of the Ministry of Agriculture. He is also the leader of the national key discipline of vegetable science, the member of the third academic committee of the state key laboratory of crop genetics and germplasm innovation, the post scientist of the technical system of national bulk vegetable industry, the chief expert of the collaborative research group of vegetable breeding in Jiangsu province, the chief expert of cruciferous vegetable breeding innovation team of Jiangsu modern agricultural industrial technology system, and the leader of modern horticulture science, the dominant discipline of Jiangsu province. His research interests are vegetable genetics and breeding and molecular biology, bioinformatics and genomics.

Shaoling Zhang, professor of horticulture (second grade), doctoral supervisor, enjoys the government subsidy of the State Council. He is currently the chief scientist of the national modern agriculture (pear) industrial technology system, the director of the National Pear improvement Center, the member of the planting expert guidance group of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the head of the national pear industry cooperation group. chairman of the academic Committee of the College of Horticulture of Nanjing Agricultural University, Director of the Pear Engineering and Technology Research Center of Nanjing Agricultural University, head of Fruit Science of key disciplines in Jiangsu Province, Vice Chairman of Pear Branch of Chinese Society of Horticulture. He was twice selected as the first-level training object of "333 High-level Talent Project" in Jiangsu Province. He is engaged in fruit tree scientific research, teaching and promotion for more than 30 years, committed to pear molecular-assisted breeding and germplasm innovation, functional genome and bioinformatics, fruit quality physiology and regulation mechanism, reproductive physiology and cell signal transduction and so on. It has made remarkable achievements in pear genome research, industrial scientific and technological innovation, technological research and development and popularization. 330 academic papers have been published, of which 117 are included in SCI.

Elizabeth I. Alger is a PhD candidate in the Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology graduate program in the Edger lab at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the factors influencing subgenome dominance in hybrid strawberry as well as salinity tolerance in cultivated and wild strawberry.