Chief Scientist, and Senior R&D Director, Center for Molecular Breeding Technology Invention & Development

Prior to returning to China and joining Huazhi Biotech in 2016, Dr. Xiao had assumed the positions of Scientist, Senior scientist, and Principal Scientist at Monsanto (St. Louis, Missouri) and Dow AgroScience (Indianapolis, Indiana) for 20 years, establishing and leading molecular breeding programs and research teams for several crops including cotton, wheat, canola, and sunflower.

Dr. Xiao received his Ph.D. degree in Plant Genetics and Breeding from Cornell University in 1995 under the guidance of Prof. Steven Tanksley, the "Father of Molecular Breeding", his M.S. degree in Plant Genetics and Breeding from Hunan Agricultural University in 1987 under the direction of Prof. Longping Yuan, the "Father of Hybrid Rice", and his B.S. degree in Agronomy in 1984 from Hunan Agricultural University.

Dr. Xiao is one of the internationally recognized pioneers and leading scientists in the field of plant molecular breeding. He has been serving the Editorial Board of 'Molecular Breeding' as an Associate Editor since 1999; had served the Editorial Board of 'Theoretical and Applied Genetics' as an Editor from 2011 to 2012, a Steering Committee Member of Liaison Committee of T-CAP (Triticeae Coordinated Agricultural Project funded by USDA-NIFA) from 2011 to 2013, and a Member of Advisory Committee of International Cotton Genome Initiative (ICGI) from 2005 to 2007. He had 30 peer-reviewed research papers with first-author papers published in 'Nature', 'Genetics', 'Theoretical and Applied Genetics', and 'Molecular Breeding'.