Dr. Xiaohan Yang is a Senior Scientist in the Synthetic Biology Group in the Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He obtained his PhD degree (Horticulture/Plant Molecular Biology/Plant Breeding) from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. He is an editor-in-chief of BioDesign Research (https://spj.sciencemag.org/journals/bdr/). His research covers plant genome editing, plant metabolic pathway engineering, plant-based biosensors, synthetic biology tool development, secure biosystems design, and plant genomics, with a focus on bioenergy crops and plant-microbe interactions in order to solve renewable energy and environmental challenges. He won an R&D 100 Award in 2018.
Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a biological innovation that allows plants to thrive in water-limited environments such as arid deserts and areas with a pronounced seasonal drought. The water-use efficiency of CAM plants is much higher than that of C3 and C4 plants. Transferring CAM machinery into existing crops holds tremendous potential for sustainable production of food and biomass on semi-arid, marginal, or degraded agricultural lands. Dr. Yang leads a research team at ORNL to engineer CAM using a synthetic biology approach for the purpose of improving water-use efficiency of bioenergy feedstocks. Besides CAM engineering, he is interested in engineering plants for bioenergy, carbon sequestration, and bioeconomy (biomaterials, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals).
Research Keywords & Expertise
Bioinformatics
Photosynthesis
Genome editing
Plant genomics
Carbon Sequeatration
Synthetic Biology
Short Biography
Dr. Xiaohan Yang is a Senior Scientist in the Synthetic Biology Group in the Biosciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). He obtained his PhD degree (Horticulture/Plant Molecular Biology/Plant Breeding) from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. He is an editor-in-chief of BioDesign Research (https://spj.sciencemag.org/journals/bdr/). His research covers plant genome editing, plant metabolic pathway engineering, plant-based biosensors, synthetic biology tool development, secure biosystems design, and plant genomics, with a focus on bioenergy crops and plant-microbe interactions in order to solve renewable energy and environmental challenges. He won an R&D 100 Award in 2018.
Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a biological innovation that allows plants to thrive in water-limited environments such as arid deserts and areas with a pronounced seasonal drought. The water-use efficiency of CAM plants is much higher than that of C3 and C4 plants. Transferring CAM machinery into existing crops holds tremendous potential for sustainable production of food and biomass on semi-arid, marginal, or degraded agricultural lands. Dr. Yang leads a research team at ORNL to engineer CAM using a synthetic biology approach for the purpose of improving water-use efficiency of bioenergy feedstocks. Besides CAM engineering, he is interested in engineering plants for bioenergy, carbon sequestration, and bioeconomy (biomaterials, pharmaceuticals, and fine chemicals).
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