After his undergraduate study from 1980-1984 in Department of Biology, Sichuan University, Dr. HONG Yan obtained his Ph.D. in Peking Union Medical College (now part of TsingHua University) in 1989. He has worked in biotech industry and universities in Singapore and US since then. He was also awarded MBA in 2001 (National University of Singapore). He is an adjunct associate professor for School of Biological Science, Nanyang Technology University, a member of Singapore Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC), an evaluator for Singapore Center for Drug Administration (CDA) and part of expert panel for herbal medicines, Health Sciences Authority (HSA) Singapore.

 We are interested in Jatropha curcus, a tropical shrub with good potential as a biofuel feedstock plant. We aim to maximize its potential as a bioenergy source and minimize its potential harm through both traditional breeding and genetic modification. We study jatropha biodiversity and interaction of genetic factor with the environment to determine its agronomic performance. Inter- and intra- species controlled pollinations are conducted to generate hybrids followed by field evaluation for possible hybrid vigor. Hybrid populations are also used for the construction of jatropha genetic map of AFLP and SSR DNA markers. In vitro propagation systems are being developed to provide plantation materials with superior and uniform performance. We clone and characterize genes possibly involved in biosynthesis of phorbol esters, the cancer promoting compounds in jatropha seed.