Prof. Yanying Qu is a professor at Xinjiang Agricultural University, the head of the key discipline of crop genetics and breeding in the autonomous region, and the head of the postdoctoral research station of crop science at Xinjiang Agricultural University. She is currently a director of the Xinjiang Agricultural Society, a director of the Xinjiang Genetics Society, and a member of the Seed Industry Collaboration Group of the National Agricultural Extension Master Professional Degree Education Steering Committee. She graduated from Xinjiang Agricultural University (1984) and received her MSc in crop genetics and breeding from Xinjiang Agricultural University (2000). She earned her PhD in crop genetics and breeding from China Agricultural University (2006). She has researched molecular breeding of upland cotton and sea island cotton, molecular markers for drought resistance in rice, and molecular markers for high sugar content in sugar beets. She pioneered the Agrobacterium-mediated sea island cotton transgenic technology system and obtained a national invention patent.