(Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)

Chao-Feng Huang is a full professor at the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral research under the guidance of Prof. Jian Feng Ma’s lab in 2010, receiving his Ph. D. in Plant Molecular Biology at Ehime University in 2009. Subsequently, he pursued further postdoctoral training from 2010 to 2012 in Prof. Jian-Kang Zhu’s lab at University of California, Riverside, and Purdue University. In August 2012, he assumed a professorship position at Nanjing Agricultural University, and later, in December 2016, he joined his current institution as a full professor. Dr. Huang’s research focuses on unraveling the intricate mechanisms underlying aluminum (Al) resistance and manganese (Mn) utilization in plants. His groundbreaking work has shed light on the multifaceted post-transcriptional regulation of the critical Al-resistance regulator, STOP1, in Arabidopsis. He has revealed various layers of modification, including ubiquitination, SUMOylation, phosphorylation, and nucleocytoplasmic mRNA export, that influence the functioning of STOP1. Additionally, Dr. Huang’s research has uncovered how rice plants respond to Al stress by increasing the levels of 4-coumaric acid and ferulic acid to modify the root cell wall, thereby defending against Al toxicity. Furthermore, his recent investigations have unveiled the critical role of the PP2C.D phosphatase SAL1 in regulating Al resistance through restricting NRAT1-mediated Al uptake in rice.