AWARDEE OF LIFE SCIENCES PRIZE

ZHANG YAPING

Zhang Yaping, a biologist on molecular evolution and conservation genetics, was born in May 1965 in Zhaotong, Yunnan Province. He graduated from the Fudan University in 1986. Then he received his Ph.D. in 1991 from Kunming Institute of Zoology. He was a post-doctoral fellow of CRES, Zoological Society of San Diegofrom 1992 to 1995.He became a professor of Kunming Institute of Zoologyin 1995. He was elected the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2003. Currently, he is the director of Kunming Institute of Zoology, the vice president of the Genetic Society of China, and the Zoological Society of China. He is an associate editor of Acta Genet. Sinica, and the editorial board of Cell Research, Chinese Biodiversity, Progress in Nature Science, Acta Zoologica Sinica, Science in China (Series C). He has served as a reviewer for Science, Proc Natl Acad. Sci USA, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Animal Genetics and several other international journals.
His research interests are in phylogenetic and biogeographical patterns of biodiversity, and the evolutionary principles that underlie biodiversity. He has established the biggest animal DNA bank in Asia, with over ten thousand samples from several hundred species of mammals (including human ethnic populations), birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes, which provide essential tools that facilitate scientific studies of genetic diversity in Asia. The phylogeny and systematics of several hundred animal species (including about two hundred mammal species) have been studied by him with molecular approach. He has systematically investigated population history and genetic structure of a large number of animal species, such as the giant panda, Sichuan snub-nosed langur, slow loris, and argali. He demonstrated that genetic purity does not necessarily lead to decline or extinction of a species. He has studied genetic diversity of several domestic animals, which helps to understand the origin of domestic animals. Human population structure and history in East Asia has also been investigated, using both mitochondrial and nuclear genome sequences. In recent years, he studied the evolution of genes (especially after duplication), with emphasis on genetic basis for animal adaptation.
He has published over 100 papers in international journal in recent years. He was awarded Qiu Shi Science & Technologies Prizes for Outstanding Young Scientists (Hong Kong) in 1997, Biodiversity Leadership Awards (Bay and Paul Foundations, USA) in 2002, May 4th Youth Medal of China in 2004.