Dr. Shaobin Zhong joined the faculty of the Department of Plant Pathology at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 2007. He teaches advanced mycology and has major research programs focused on Fusarium head blight and biology of cereal fungal pathogens. His research interests include genetics and molecular mapping of host resistance genes, molecular mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity and virulence, plant-fungal interactions, and population genetics of plant fungal pathogens. Dr. Zhong received a B.S. degree and an M.S. degree in plant breeding and genetics from Nanjing Agricultural University, and a Ph.D. degree in plant pathology from North Dakota State University under the supervision of Dr. Brian Steffenson. He had postdoctoral training at the Biotechnology Institute, and the USDA-Cereal Disease Lab, University of Minnesota, in Dr. Antony M. Dean’s and Dr. Les Szabo’s laboratory, respectively. Before joining the faculty at NDSU, Dr. Zhong was an assistant professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he had teaching and research responsibilities on molecular genetics of plant-fungal interactions. He is currently assisted in laboratory and field research by Dr. Yueqiang (Michael) Leng and Joseph Mullins.

Fusarium head blight and biology of cereal fungal pathogens Genetics and molecular mapping of host resistance genes, molecular mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity and virulence, plant-fungal interactions, and population genetics of plant fungal pathogens