Ying Xu

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Ying Xu (徐鹰), Ph. D., is a computational biologist and bioinformatician, and a chair professor under the title 'Regents-Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar' in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and the Institute of Bioinformatics, the University of Georgia, USA.

Xu was born in Changchun, Jilin Province of P.R. China, to a family of two chemists in early 60's. Both his parents have been professors in Jilin University. He spent part of his childhood in a remote rural area in Fuyu County of Jilin from 1969 to 1972. He attended the 17th Middle School and the 65th High School of Changchun from 1974 to 1978. Xu graduated from the Computer Science Department, Jilin University with a B.S. and a M.S. degree in 1982 and 1985, respectively. He then attended the University of Colorado at Boulder starting in 1986, and received a Ph.D. degree in computer science in 1991. He worked for Colorado School of Mines from 1991 to 1993 as a visiting assistant professor, and then joined the Computational Science and Mathematics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1993. There he was a research associate, staff scientist, senior staff scientist and group leader from 1993 to 2003. He joined the University of Georgia as an endowed chair professor in 2003. He is also a member of the UGA Institute of Bioinformatics and Center for Cancer Research.

His research is mainly focused on computational and systems biology relevant to (i) human cancers and early detection, (ii) microbial genomes and encoded pathways, and (iii) plant genomes and cell walls.

He is married since 1988. His wife is a computer programmer and his son is now in high school.