Qualifications

2001 PhD, University of New England, Australia.
Thesis: Breeding for resistance to gastrointestinal nematode parasites in Australian meat sheep production.

1990 Master in Agricultural Science, Gansu Agricultural University, China.
Thesis: Study On Systematic Techniques in Meat Sheep Production in Tibetan-Qinhai Plateau Region".

1987 Bachelor in Agricultural Science, Gansu Agricultural University, China.
Dissertation: Effects of Cross Breeding Australian Merino Sheep Over Qinhai Merino on their Production in Tibetan-Qinhai Plateau Region".

Main Research Interests

Genomic analysis and developments of bioinformatics tools
Segregation analysis
QTL detection and linkage mapping
Quantitative genetics and animal breeding

Research Achievements

Creation of the Pig Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) annotation database and the web distribution of this database (http://pigest.genome.iastate.edu).
Development of in-silico mapping tool in Java (http://pigest.genome.iastate.edu/java/).
Management and development of the US Pig Genome web site (http://www.genome.iastate.edu).
Development of a number of bioinformatic tools for EST sequence analyses, database creation and maintenance.

Other Interests

Programming in Perl, Shell (Bash shell, C shell etc), Java, Fortran etc.
Playing badminton and volleyball.

Selected Publications

Chen, Y; Zhang, Y; MacLeod, I; Kerr, R; Bunter, K L; Hayes, B; Tier, B; Graser, H-U; Luxford, B G; Goddard, M E and Moran, C (2009).  “QTL mapping for feed conversion efficiency on porcine chromosome 10 in an Australian commercial population.”  Proceedings of the 18th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Barossa Valley, South Australia. September 28-October 1. pp.183-186.

Zhang, Y D and Tier, B (2009).  “Population stratification, not genotype error, causes some SNPs to depart from Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium.”  Proceedings of the 18th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Barossa Valley, South Australia. September 28-October 1. pp.243-246.

Zhang, Y D and Tier, B (2009).  “QTL mapping in multiple families using logistic regression.”  Proceedings of the 18th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Barossa Valley, South Australia. September 28-October 1. pp.664-667.

Marshall, K; Maddox, J F; Lee, S H; Zhang, Y; Kahn, L; Graser, H-U; Gondro, C; Walkden-Brown, S W and van der Werf, J H J (2009).  “Genetic mapping of quantitative trait loci for resistance to Haemonchus contortus in sheep.”  Animal Genetics 40(3):262-272.

Arasta, P; Chen, Y; Zhang, Y; Kerr, R; Graser, H-U; Luxford, B and Moran, C (2007).  “cyp21 as a candidate gene for androstenone on boar taint.”  Proceedings of the 17th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Armidale, Australia. September 24-26. pp.65-68.

Piper, E; Chen, Y; Zhang, Y; Tier, B; Graser, H-U; Luxford, B G and Moran, C (2007).  “Single nucleotide polymorphisms in suppressor of cytokine signalling-2 gene and association with feed conversion ratio and growth in pigs.”  Proceedings of the 17th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Armidale, Australia. September 24-26. pp.53-56.

Zhang, Y; Tier, B and Hawken R (2007).  “Fine mapping QTL with haplotypes determined from dense single nucleotide polymorphic markers.”  Proceedings of the 17th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Armidale, Australia. September 24-26. pp.119-122.

Zhang, Y D and Tier, B (2005). "QTL mapping using logistic regression." In Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Noosa, Australia. September 25-28. pp.354-357.

Marshall, K; van der Werf, J H J; Maddox, J F; Graser, H-U; Zhang, Y D; Walkden-Brown, S W and Kahn, L (2005). "A genome scan for quantitative trait loci for resistance to the gastrointestinal parasite Haemonchus contortus in sheep." In Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics. Noosa, Australia. September 25-28. pp.115-118.

Tuggle, C K; Green J A; Fitzsimmons, C; Woods, R; Prather, R S; Malchenko, S; Soares, B M; Kucaba, T; Crouch, K; Smith, C; Tack, D; Robinson, N; O'Leary, B; Scheetz, T; Casavant, T; Pomp, D; Edeal, J B; Zhang, Y D; Rothschild, M F; Garwood, K; Beavis, W (2003). "EST-based gene discovery in pig: virtual expression patterns and comparative mapping to human." Mammalian Genome 14, 565-579.

Ciobanu, D C; Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2002). "Mapping of the Ca2+ ATPase of fast twitch 1 skeletal muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum (ATP2A1) gene to pig chromosome 3." Journal of Animal Science, 80:1386-1387.

Grapes, L; Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2002). "Physical and linkage mapping of the porcine connexin 37 (CX37) gene." Journal of Animal Science, 80:1375-1376.

Holz, D R; Helm, J; Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2002). "Linkage and physical mapping of the porcine basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) gene." Journal of Animal Science, 80:1384-1385.

Kim, K S; Zhang, Y D; Yim, D; Kim, Y B and Rothschild, M F (2002). "Linkage Mapping of the Porcine Immunoreceptor DAP10 and NKG2D Genes." Journal of Animal Science, 80:1377-1378.

Ramos, A M; Helm, J M; Zhang, Y D; Rangel-Figueiredo, T and Rothschild M F (2002). "Linkage and physical mapping of the Porcine thyroglobulin (TG) gene." Animal Genetics. 33:228.

Shi, X-W; Zhang, Y D; Rothschild, M F and Tuggle, C K (2002). "Genetic Linkage and Physical Mapping of the Porcine Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein (CETP) Gene." Journal of Animal Science, 80:1390-1391.

Shi, X-W; Zhang, Y D and Tuggle, C K (2002). "Linkage mapping of Porcine STCH further refines the HSA2/21 breakpoint on pig chromosome 13." Animal Genetics, 33:395-397.

Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2002). Pig Genome Web Site: Online Resources For Swine Molecular Genetics and Genome Information, 2001 Swine Research Report, Iowa State University (ASL-R1774).

Zhang, Y D; Garwood, K; Beavis, W; Tuggle, C K and Rothschild, M F (2002). "Porcine Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs): Comparative analysis and EST Database Generation for Gene Discovery and Exploitation." Proceedings of Plant, Animal & Microbe Genome XI. January, 2002, San Diego.

Kim, K S; Sherwood, J; Ciobanu, D C; Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2001). "Mapping and Investigation of Two Novel Candidate Genes for Growth and Meat Quality traits in the Pig." 2000 Swine Research Report, Iowa State University (AS-644).

Nguyen, K N T; Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2001). "Mapping Of The Hmg-I Gene Family In The Pig (Abstract)." The 12th North American Colloquium - Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping, Davis, California, USA, July 15-19, 2001.

Tuggle, C K; Green, J A; Fitzsimmons, C; Woods, R; Prather, R; Malchenko, S; Soares, M B; Roberts, C A; Casavant, T; Harger, C; Zhang, Y D and Rothschild, M F (2001). "Development of resources for functional genomics in the pig: production of 14 cDNA libraries and sequencing of over 7,000 clones from female reproductive tissues (Abstract)." The International Conference On The Status Of Plant And Animal Genome Research IX, January 13-17, 2001, San Diego, CA, USA.

Zhang, Y. D; Garwood, K; Beavis, W; Tuggle, C K and Rothschild, M F (2001). "Comparative Analysis of Porcine Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) and EST Database3Generation for Gene Discovery and Exploitation (Abstract)." The 12th North American Colloquium - Animal Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping, Davis, California, USA, July 15-19, 2001.

Zhang, Y D; Gray, G D and Crook, B J (1998). "Genetic Enhancement of Resistance to Gastrointestinal Worm Infection in Crossbred Maternal Genotypes Used for Meat Sheep Production in Australia." Proceedings of The 6th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, 27: 315-318.

Zhang, Y D; Crook, B J; Gray, G D and Fogarty, N M (1997). "Resistance Of Meat Sheep Genotypes To Naturally Acquired Worm Infection." Proc. Assoc. Advmt. Anim. Breed. Genet. 12:309-312.