Xingen Lei is a Professor of Molecular
Nutrition at Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State
University and a postdoctoral training at University Missouri. Lei pioneered
the application of gene-knockout models to study nutritional genomics of
selenium, and revealed dual roles of selenium in oxidative stress and in
diabetes. Lei’s creative research developed a new generation of bacterial
phytases that are used worldwide by the feed industry. Lei is exploring the
nutritional, health, and environmental values of defatted microalgae from the
biofuel production as a new generation of food and feed protein. Lei is an
international leader of the HarvestPlus program for the global fight against
micronutrient deficiencies in humans and brought the program to China. Lei has
served on panels for NIH and USDA, many other scientific committees, and
Editorial Boards for a number of scientific journals including Journal of
Nutrition (Associate Editor) and Annual Review of Animal Biosciences. He has
received a number of national and international awards including the Mead
Johnson Award and Milton Sunde Award from the American Society for Nutrition
and 2017 FASS-AFIA New Frontiers in Animal Nutrition Award and Gary L. Cromwell
Award in Mineral Research. He was the founding President of North America
Chinese Nutrition Society, and is currently serving as the President of TEMA
(International Society of Trace Elements in Man and Animals). He has helped
create the annual Far East/Asia-Pacific Selenium Forum since 1991, and served
as the Chief Editor of Chinese version of Se: Its Molecular Biology and Role in
Human Health.