International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Fuguang LI

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 2018, Professor Fuguang Li is a distinguished Chinese cotton biotechnologist whose research and professional work have focused on cotton genetic transformation, molecular breeding, and biotechnological utilisation. Born in 1966 in Yanjin County, Henan Province, he received his B.S. in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry from Beijing Agricultural University (now China Agricultural University) in 1989 and joined the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in the same year. He currently serves as Principal Scientist of the National Cotton Industry Technology System, Director of the Breeding and Seed Research Laboratory, and Director of the National Key Laboratory of Cotton Biological Breeding and Comprehensive Utilisation. He also serves as a Director of the Chinese Association of Agricultural Science Societies, Vice President of the Chinese Cotton Society, Director of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Biotechnology, and Director of the Fourth China Youth Association for Science and Technology. He has received the State Council Special Allowance since 2006 and was selected as a national-level candidate of the New Century Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talent Project in 2007, received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2011, and was honoured with the Fifth China Agricultural Elite Award in 2015.

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Professor Li’s research has focused on cotton biotechnology, genetic transformation, and molecular breeding, with particular emphasis on the development of large-scale transgenic technology platforms for cotton and the functional validation of exogenous genes. Through national major research programmes, including the National 863 Programme, the National 973 Programme, the National Transgenic Major Special Project, and projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, his work has contributed to the development of China’s cotton transgenic technology system. As first completer, he received the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2005 for the “Large-Scale Cotton Transgenic Technology System” and the Second Prize of the National Technology Invention Award in 2010 for “Cotton Tissue Culture Trait Purification and Exogenous Gene Functional Verification”. He received the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Science and Technology Innovation in 2012. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and holds two international patents and eight national invention patents, five of which have been authorised. He has also supervised and trained more than 60 graduate students. Through sustained research, leadership of national key laboratories and major research programmes, Professor Li has contributed to connecting advances in plant biotechnology with the development of modern cotton breeding and production, agricultural biotechnology, and the sustainable utilisation of cotton resources.