Qijian Song

Dr. Qijian Song is a Supervisory Research Geneticist, Lead Scientist and Research Leader at the USDA-ARS Soybean Genomics and Improvement Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. His research focuses on the development and application of molecular genetic markers and high-throughput genotyping tools to identify genes controlling traits and accelerate breeding selection in soybean and bean. Dr. Song developed molecular markers of soybean and common bean, created high-density linkage maps and developed high-throughput genotyping assays, these resources have been used in genetic and genomic research, such as constructing the first soybean and common bean whole genome sequence assemblies and map genes controlling all major traits and perform molecular fingerprinting of the entire USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection with SoySNP50Kh contains >20,000 accessions. Dr. Song has commercialized five high-throughput genotyping assays for soybeans and common beans through Illumina Inc or Agriplex Genomics Inc and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers.