Prof. dr. Xingyao Xiong, is professor and Ph.D. supervisor. He was awarded with the special allowance of the State Council and was appointed as the Vice Chairman  of the Potato Professional Committee of the National Crop Society, and the secretary-general of the National Potato Industry Technology Innovation Alliance. He graduated from Hunan Agricultural University with a bachelor's degree and the doctoral degree. He conducted  potato genetic breeding research at the Potato Research Center of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) during 1998-2003. After returning to China in 2003, he was appointed as the Dean of the College of Horticulture at Hunan Agricultural University where he initiated and led the first-class doctoral degree program in horticulture  From January 2012 to December 2019, he worked at the Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, engaged in potato cultivation theory and technology research, chaired several key scientific research projects In January 2020, he was introduced to the Agricultural Genomics institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and joined the whole-genome design and breeding team of economic crops at the Synthetic Biology Research Center. He mainly focuses on the innovation and demonstration of potato cultivation technologies, and he was also as the backbone member, involved in the whole-genome design breeding of diploid potato. He has published more than 30 scientific research articles in international academic journals such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Plant Cell, the Plant Journal, etc., and has been authorized with more than 60 national invention patents. He has been invited to chair the China Potato Conference for many times and has been invited to give oral presentations at international academic conferences. He has successfully supervised more than 30 Ph.D. students, more than 20 MSc. students, and more than 10 postdoctoral researchers. His other honors and awards are listed as follow:

Honors and awards:

2016Hunan Science and Technology Progress Award - The Third prize - “Breeding and Extension of New Potato Varieties Adaptable to Winter Cropping in South China”

2014Hunan Science and Technology Progress Award - The Third prize - “Research and Application of Southern Potato Virus Disease and Seed Potato Breeding Technology”

2013Hunan Science and Technology Progress Award - The Second prize - “New technology of potato alcohol production and comprehensive utilization of by-products”

2012Natural Science Award of Hunan Province - First prize – “Study on the Molecular Mechanism of Jasmin in Signal Transduction”

2010Hunan Province Technology Invention Award - Second prize – “New Technology of Potato Safe Food Processing”

2006Hunan Science and Technology Progress Award - First prize – “Research and Demonstration of New Comprehensive Techniques of Potato Planting in Winter Fallow Fields in South China”