Affiliation: Northeast Forestry University

Dr. Ben Niu is a professor at Northeast Forestry University. He completed his Bachelor of Agriculture in China Agricultural University, where he continued his study as a graduate student supervised by Prof. Qi Wang in the Department of Plant Pathology and received his PhD degree in 2011. During this stage, Dr. Niu was awarded a financial support from the Sino-German Collaboration Project and studied in Prof. Rainer Borriss’ Lab in the Institute of Biology, Humboldt University, from 2008 to 2010, when he investigated the mechanisms of the biocontrol effect of a plant-associated Paenibacillus strain. In 2012, he joined the Laboratory of Prof. Roberto Kolter to have his postdoctoral training in the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, where he studied the interaction between plant hosts and microbiome through building a simplified and representative bacterial community. In 2017, Dr. Niu was appointed to a professorship in the Discipline of Cell Biology, College of Life Science, Northeast Forestry University. In 2019, he joined the State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding as a permanent member. Dr. Niu’s research focuses on the interaction between tree and microbiome, his lab is interested in: 1). Investigating the compositions of tree microbiome and their dynamics; 2). Defining the mechanisms underlying the dynamics of tree microbiota assembly and the beneficial effects of such communities on hosts by using synthetic microbial consortia.