Assistant Professor
Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University
Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas
17360 Coit Road, Dallas TX 75252
Tel: (972) 952-9619
E-mail: xw-wang@tamu.edu
http://dallas.tamu.edu/

Ph.D., China Agricultural University, Beijing, China, 1998
Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Tennessee, 2004-2008

Dr. Wang jointed Texas AgriLife-Dallas Research and Extension Center in January 2009 as an Assistant Professor. He received his PhD degree from China Agricultural University, Beijing, China in 1998. From 2000-2004, he was a research scientist and worked on legume plant breeding and genetics at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan. He constructed genetic linkage maps for azuki bean and lotus.  As a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Tennessee from 2004-2008, he worked on molecular breeding of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.). He developed a novel microsatellite discovery protocol and built the first genetic linkage map in flowering dogwood. He has published nearly 20 peer-review journal research papers since 2001.

Dr. Wang’s expertise is in plant breeding and molecular genetics, particularly in the use of molecular markers and other biotechnology tools to assist in ornamental plant breeding and genetic mapping in horticultural species (trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species). His research interests include genetic germplasm exploration and development, cultivar molecular fingerprint, genetic linkage maps, and new cultivar development and marketing. He is also interested on studying ornamental plants’ tolerance to environmental stresses (drought, heat, salinity, cold hardiness) and pest/disease resistance. He will be focusing his efforts on crape myrtle (Lagerstroemiaspp.) and rose (Rosa spp.) cultivar development.  He would like to collaborate with horticulturists and molecular biologists from universities, institutes, green industry companies and governments (regional, national and international) in his career.

Selected publications:
Wang X., P.A. Wadl, T. A. Rinehart, B. E. Scheffler, M.T. Windham , J.M.Spiers,  D.H. Johnson and R.N. Trigiano. 2009. A linkage map for flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L) based on microsatellite markers. Euphytica.165: 165-175.

Baird R.E., P.A. Wadl, X. Wang, D. Hadziab, T.A. Rinehart, H. K. Abbas, T. Shier and R. N. Trigiano. 2009. Microsatellites from the charcoal rot fungus (Macrophomina phaseolina). Molecular Ecology Resources. 9(3):946-948.

Wadl P.A., X. Wang, A.N.Trigiano, J.A. Skinner, M.T. Windham and R.N. Trigiano. 2009. Molecular identification keys for cultivars and lines of Cornus florida and C. kousa based on simple sequence repeat loci. J. Amer.Soc.Hort.Sci. 133:783-793.