Dr. Ruifu Yang is a professor at the Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, focusing on bacterial pathogenesis using genomics- and proteomics-based techniques. Graduated in 1985 from Hebei medical university with a bachelor degree of medicine, he continued his study in Beijing institute of microbiology and epidemiology with getting a master degree of science and later he also got his Ph.D. degree in this institute. His research concentrations at present are host-bacterial pathogen interaction, pathogenesis evolution by comparative genomics and development of rapid diagnostic assays. His prior research at the Institute, where he served as assistant and associate professor prior to his promotion, was on the use of molecular techniques to detect and identify medically important microorganisms and on Legionella. In 1996, he was also a visiting professor at Gifu University in Japan.