Rate My Professor Jianping Xu

Jianping Xu is a Professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University. He earned a BSc in Agronomy from Jiangxi Agricultural University in 1985 and an MScAg in Soil Science from Nanjing Agricultural University in 1988. He subsequently obtained an MSc in Botany in 1993 and a PhD in Botany in 1997 from the University of Toronto. Following his doctorate, he completed postdoctoral training at Duke University from 1997 to 2000 before joining McMaster University as an assistant professor in 2000; he is now a tenured full professor.

Xu’s research focuses on the ecology and evolutionary genetics of fungi, including population genetics and genomics of fungi, fungal mitochondrial DNA variation and inheritance, biomarkers for human fungal pathogens, and microbiome effects on host health. He teaches courses in microbiology, genetics, field ecology, and evolution. He serves as Associate Chair of Biology for Graduate Studies and as a member of the McMaster University Biosafety Committee. Xu is on the editorial boards of several journals, including Genome, Mycology, Mycopathologia, and Mycoses, and has received the Young Scientist Award from the Genetics Society of Canada.