Dr Xiaodong Wang joined the Wulff Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2024. Xiaodong obtained his PhD from Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University in China. His previous research focused on elucidating mechanisms by which stripe rust pathogen effectors manipulate plant immunity. He is interested in developing solutions that improve wheat disease resistance. At present, he is using GWAS and QTL mapping to clone rust resistance genes from wheat and its wild relative Aegilops sharonensis, and then explore the potential mechanisms of these rust resistance genes.