On November 22nd, the Chinese Academy of Engineering released the results of the 2019 academician election, among which NWAFU Professor Zhang Yong’s name is listed.

　　Born in Helinge’er County, Inner Mongolia of China in 1956, Zhang Yong is currently a professor and Ph.D tutor of the College of Veterinary Medicine of NWAFU, and the chief academic leader of the first-level discipline of veterinary medicine. Healso serves asthe director of Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology under Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the director of Research Center of Animal Embryo Engineering Technology of Shaanxi Province. He enjoys the titles of National Expert with Outstanding Contribution, Chinese Ph. D Recipients with Outstanding Contributions, member of National Talents Project and member of the Veterinary Discipline Group of the Discipline Evaluation Group under the State Council’s Academic Degrees Committee. He has been recruiting and cultivating more than 300 Ph.D. students, postgraduates, and post-doctors, and has won Science and Technology Award for China Youth, Huo Yingdong Award for Young Teachers, and China Agricultural Science and Education Award. The team he led has been awarded by the Ministry of Education the title of Teacher’s Team with Huang-Danian’s Spirit.

　　Professor Zhang Yong has long been engaged in the theoretical and technical research of animal embryo bioengineering. He oncepresided over major national transgenic  projects, 863 key projects, key projects of national natural fund, and many other key projects of national, provincial and ministerial level.It is he who has conducted pioneering researches in mammalian embryo segmentation and segmented embryo freezing, and cultivated the world’s first somatic cloned goat, winning the reputation of “Father of Cloned Sheep in China”. In recent years, his intensive and systematic researches on the somatic cloning of cattle and sheep have solved the problems of low rate of embryo production in this field,regarded as a greatinvention in efficient cloning technology of cattle and sheep breeding. This achievement has been selected by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the one of the Four Achievements Exhibitions in the Biological Field on the 70th National Day Achievement Exhibition.

　　Besides, he has made great contributions to a series of technical problem solutions in gene editing of large animals such as cattle and sheep. Based on the combination of  gene editing technology and cloning technology, anti-TB cows and anti-mastitis cows have been successfully cultivated with Professor Zhang’s efficient cattle and sheep breeding technology, which set the tone of China’s leading role in world’s disease-resistant breeding of cattle and sheep by gene editing. Professor Zhang Yong’s researches and academic achievements have been highly praised by fellow scientists at home and abroad. He is considered a pioneer in the innovation and development of cattle and sheep embryo engineering in China, and has made outstanding contributions to the development of animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. He has published 356 papers in GENOME BIOL, NAT COMMUN, PNAS and other  top international journals. He has won 1second prize of National Technical Invention Award, 5first prizes of provincial and ministerial awards, and 29 invention patents.

　　Translated by: Zhao Rui

　　Proofread by : Yan Xianhui