ISBER Elections Biosketch Director-At-Large, China (May 2021-May 2023)

First Name Last Name Xun Xu Degree (if applicable) PhD Current position and institution CEO of BGI, Director of BGI Research Education and Experience

Xun Xu, holding a PhD in genetics from Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS, currently serves as CEO of BGI Group, Executive Director of BGI Group, Chief Scientist of BGI Group, Director of BGI Research, Director of the International Planning & Development Center, Director of the key Provincial Laboratory of High Throughout Genome Sequencing and Gene Editing, Vice Chairperson of ISO/TC 276 ( Technical Committee 276 of International Organization for Standardization), Chairperson of ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories) in China, Member of the Global Future Councils of the World Economic Forum and SAC/TC559 (the National Committee for Standardization of Biological Samples). Xu Xun has served as Executive Director of China National Genebank (CNGB), responsible for the phase-one construction and operation of CNGB.

Biobanking Interests

Dr. Xu continued to push forward the standards development in collection, processing, transportation and storage requirements for biological/genetic resources. Dr. Xu and his team have contributed to the ISBER official magazine Biopreservation and Biobanking and the published article covers the preservation of biological samples and the management of biobanks. He has increased the visibility of ISBER among the Chinese scientists/institutes and attract more Chinese scientist/institutes to register as ISBER members by promoting benefits of being the ISBER member.

In addition, Dr. Xu’s research results included establishing the research and development of the next generation high throughput sequencers. With published papers in the areas of heredopathia and cancer research, Dr. Xu developed detection kits based on the next generation sequencing for clinical application and committed to the research on precision medicine.

Professional Activities (ISBER and other) ISBER Working Groups

Director At Large - China

Professional Societies and Volunteer Organizations related to biobanking

1. Participated in the Annual Biobank China (ABC2018) meeting on December 1-3, 2018

2. Participated in the Potsdam meeting for ISO/TC276 on Dec 10-14, 2018.

3. Participated in the Summer Davos Forum representing the World Economic Forum’s Global Future

Council on July 1, 2019. 4. Participated in the 7th working group meeting of the International Organization for Standardization Biotechnology Committee (ISO/TC276), as Vice-Chairman, co-chaired the meeting with Gent (Chairman) on June 10-15, 2019.

5. Participated in the PAG Asia 2019 on plant and animal genome research on June 6, 2019.

6. Participated in the ISBER conference, and spoke on the “Biobanking in Asia and Oceania” symposium on Biobanking in China and CNGB on May 5-9, 2019.

7. Participated in the ISBER Annual Meeting & Exhibits in Dallas, Texas. He spoke on the topic “Big Collaborations in Biobanking.” On May 22-25, 2019. Organizer or co-organizer of meetings/conferences:

1. Organizer of The International Conference on -Ocean on September 6-8, 2018

2. Co-Organizer of Annual Biobank China (ABC2018) on Dec 1-3, 2018

3. Co-Organizer of ISBER 2019 in Shanghai, to celebrate ISBER’s 20th anniversary on May 22-25, 2019.

4. Organizer of The International Conference on Genomics on October 24-27, 2019 5. Organizer of The International Conference on Genomics-Cellomics on November 21-22, 2020 Editorial Boards

Dr. Xu has authored or co-authored 242 scientific papers published in SCI indexed journals including , , and Cell.

Other

Dr. Xu’s first major contribution was about the research and development of the “second-generation” sequencer. Dr. Xu and his team have successfully developed a series of high-throughput and desktop sequencers. At the same time, he and his team have also been devoted to pushing forward the clinical application of sequencing technologies.

Dr. Xu also has led a team to do research on agrigenomics and published a great amount of high-quality research results. He also took the lead in the 10,000 Plant Genomes Project (10KP), aiming at completing the genome sequencing for 10,000 kinds of plants in 10 years, and participated in the African Orphan Crops Projects to realize precision breeding with the assistance of genome technology.

Dr. Xu has participated in a number of major national and international scientific research projects as leader or researcher, including National 8-6-3 Sequencing Instrument Development Project and Industrial Clustering Project of China’s National Development and Reform Commission. In addition, Dr. Xu has already obtained 40 patents and over 60 patents that are under application.

In August 2013, Dr. Xu was awarded as the “researcher of basic theory of natural science and technology” by Special Assessment Committee for Senior Position of Hubei Province. He was the youngest to achieve such a senior title. On October 21, 2014, he was assessed as “national leading talent of ”. On October 17, 2015, he was selected as “Big challenge young scientist” by Ministry of Science and Technology and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. On December 14, 2015, he was awarded with “Shenzhen Outstanding Talent Award”. On February 2016, Dr. Xu was awarded with “First Prize of Provincial Science and Technology” with the project name as “Research on Genomics of Malignant Tumors in the Urinary System”. On February 26, 2016, he was awarded with “the Second prize of the Natural Science Award of the Ministry of Education” with the project name as “Research on Genomics of Malignant Tumors in the Urinary System”. On July 14, 2020, Dr. Xu was awarded as State Candidate of “Millions of

Talents Project in the New Century”.