Huaijun Zhou, Ph.D. Professor
Keynote Focus: Explore the intersection of genetics, genomics, epigenomics, and bioinformatics in poultry science, and discover how cutting-edge research in poultry genetics and genome annotation is transforming our understanding of genetic resistance to pathogens, genetic improvement of poultry production traits, welfare, and other complex traits in chickens. These insights will pave the way for innovations in global food security, production efficiency, and poultry disease resilience, shaping the future of sustainable poultry farming.
Biography
Huaijun Zhou is a Full Professor, Chancellor’s Leadership Professor, and Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of California, Davis. He previously served as Chair of the Immunology Graduate Group and USDA Poultry Genome Coordinator. Dr. Zhou earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Immunogenetics (2002) and an M.S. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (2003) from Iowa State University. His research integrates genetics, genomics, comparative epigenomics, and bioinformatics to improve global food security, production efficiency, and food safety. He is internationally recognized for livestock genome annotation, particularly identifying regulatory elements, with research focused on genetic resistance to pathogens, host–pathogen interactions in chickens, and comparative epigenomics of complex traits.
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Dr. Zhou has secured over $40 million in research funding, including $20 million as Principal Investigator from agencies such as USAID, USDA, NIH, FFAR, and industry partners. He directed the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, targeting food security in East and West Africa. With over 170 publications in prestigious journals (e.g. Nature, Science, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Genome Research, Genome Biology, and Cell Host & Microbe), Dr. Zhou has an h-index of 53 and i10-index of 136. He has authored seven book chapters and contributed over 300 conference abstracts.
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His outstanding contributions to science have earned him numerous prestigious awards, including: Hy-Line International Research Award (2010); PSA Early Achievement Award for Research (2011); Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science (2016); Zoetis Fundamental Science Award (2018); Chancellor’s Award for International Engagement, Prize of Outstanding Achievement in Science (AAFC) (2020). In 2023, Dr. Zhou was awarded the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences, the first animal scientist recipient. In 2024, he was named Inaugural Top Agrifood Pioneer by the World Food Prize Foundation, and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2025.