Dr. Daowan Lai studied at Northwest University from September 2001 to July 2008, where he obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees. He studied at Peking University from September 2008 to July 2011, where he obtained his Doctorate. From September 2011 to August 2013, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany. From September 2013 to the present, he has been an Associate Professor at the China Agricultural University. He was a visiting scientist at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, from November 2018 to December 2018, and at the University of Hannover, Germany, from July 2019 to June 2020. His research interests are in secondary metabolism during plant–microbe interactions, mainly focusing on the discovery of novel bioactive secondary metabolites from fungi; the biosynthesis of bioactive secondary metabolites in fungi, bacteria and plants; and the metabolomics study of plant-pathogenic fungi interactions.