AWARDEE OF LIFE SCIENCES PRIZE
LI JIAYANG
Dr. Li Jiayang, plant molecular biologist, born in 1956 in Anhui Province of China, was conferred the Bachelors degree of agronomy from Anhui Agricultural College in 1982, the Masters degree of Science from Institute of Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1984, and the Ph. D. from Brandeis University in 1991. After receiving his postdoctoral training in Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Researches at Cornell University, he was recruited as a Principal Investigator (professor) in 1994 by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, CAS, working in the field of plant growth and development using Arabidopsis and rice as model plants. He was appioned as Director Assistant of the institute in 1997 and as director from October 1999 to March 2004. Since January 2004, he has been appioned as vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1999, he was elected the member of Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network, in 2001 the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and in 2004 the Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He was awarded the Prize for Distinguished Young Scientists in China in 1995 and the Prize for One-hundred Talents Program by CAS. As a leading scientist in plant molecular genetics, Dr. Jiayang Li has been elected the President of Genetics Society of China, Secretary-Treasurer of International Association for Plant Tissue Culture & Biotechnology (IAPTC&B), and member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology (ISPMB). He has also been elected the editor of Plant & Cell Physiology. Dr. Jiayang Li and his laboratory are mainly interested in molecular genetics of plant development and metabolism, focusing on plant architecture, action of phytohormones and biosynthesis of carbohydrates and lipids.
