Zong-Ming (Max) Cheng

Professor

UT

Research

Dr. Cheng's research program focuses on four major areas:

1. Genomics and functional genomics and biotechnology of bioenergy crops, including Populus, soybean and agaves, particularly for agronomic and horticultural traits, like drought resistance
2. Genomics and functional genomics and biotechnology of fruit crops, particularly grapevine, apple and strawberry, and
3. Plant genome evolution, particularly genome duplication, intron evolution and calcium signaling evolution, and gene family analysis.
4. Synthetic plant biology, particularly on understanding the crassulacean acid metabolism by using Kalanchoe as a model.

Education

Cornell University — Ph.D. in Horticulture/Plant Genetics & Cell Biology , 1991
Cornell University — M.S. in Pomology/Plant Genetics, 1988
Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China — B.S. in Pomology, 1982