Yinping Jiao, Ph.D.

Background

Yinping Jiao, an expert in Plant Genomics and Genetics, has been named an assistant professor with Texas Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science, according to officials within the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. She officially stepped into her new research and teaching post on Jan. 1.

Prior to joining the Tech faculty, Jiao served as an a computational postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, and quantitative biology. She also worked as a research associate with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

Her bachelor's degree in biotechnology is from Shandong Agricultural University in Shandong, China. Her doctorate in plant genetics and breeding is from China Agricultural University in Beijing, China.

Research Interests

Jiao's research is devoted to obtaining a deeper understanding of the genetic diversity and regulatory mechanism of important agronomic traits in crops, with the goal of facilitating breeding. Agriculture is facing myriad challenges related to rapidly growing global populations and the decreasing of natural resources. Genetics and genomics research can provide targets for molecular plant breeding, which is an essential strategy for enhancing our current and future food security and agricultural sustainability. 

One of her primary goals at Tech is to identify key loci contributing to the high abiotic stress tolerance in sorghum. Sorghum is one of the major crops in west Texas. Jiao’s research will provide guides to breeding strong sorghum.

Related Links

• Curriculum vitae
• Institute of Genomics for Crop Abiotic Stress Tolerance