ZHANG Dachuan

Principal Investigator

dachuan.zhang@nus.edu.sg

Educational Qualifications
2013-2017 Department of Food Science and Engineering, Shandong Normal University, B.E.
2017-2022 CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ph.D.

Work Experience
2022-2025 National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Catalysis, ETH Zürich, Postdoctoral Researcher
2025-present Department of Food Science and Technology, National University of Singapore, Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator

Research Interests
• Food informatics and artificial intelligence
• Predictive life cycle assessment for sustainable food systems
• Synthetic biology for future food and processing

Honors & Awards
Young Scientist Award, awarded by the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), 2024
Irving Sigal Global Mobility Award, awarded by the American Chemical Society (ACS), 2024
President's Award, awarded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Top 1%), 2021

Representative Publications
[1] Zhang, D.*; Liu, M.; Yu, Z.; Xu, H.; Pfister, S.; Menichetti, G.; Kou, X.; Zhu, J.; Fan, D.; Rao, P. Domain knowledge, just evaluation, and robust data standards are required to advance AI in food science. Trends in Food Science & Technology 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2025.105272.
[2] Tian, Y. #; Zhang, D.#; Xing, H.; Tang, M.; Zhao, C.; He, W.; Lin, H.; Yan, W.; Hu, Q. N.; Wu, A. Computational glycosyltransferases masked deoxynivalenol toxicity and halted FHB spread in wheat grains. Journal of Advanced Research 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2025.08.045
[3] Qiu, Y. #; Zhang, D. #; Long, M.; Zhou, Z.; Gao, C.; Ma, S.; Qin, J.; Chen, K.; Chen, C.; Zhao, Z.; et al. Coassembly of hybrid microscale biomatter for robust, water-processable, and sustainable bioplastics. Science Advances 2025, 11 (14), eadr1596. DOI: doi:10.1126/sciadv.adr1596.
[4] Jiao, X.; Zhu, J.; Ye, W.; Zou, H.; Yan, B.; Zhang, N.; Qiang, J.; Tao, Y.; Zhang, H.; Zhang, D.*; Fan, D. Artificial intelligence in smart seafood safety across the supply chains: Recent advances and future prospects. Trends in Food Science & Technology 2025, 163. DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2025.105161.4.
[5] Zhang, D.*; Liu, D.; Jing, J.; Jia, B.; Tian, Y.; Le, Y.; Yu, Y.; Hu, Q.-N. Unveiling the chemical complexity of food-risk components: A comprehensive data resource guide in 2024. Trends in Food Science & Technology 2024, 148. DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2024.104513.
[6] Zhang, D.; Xing, H.; Liu, D.; Han, M.; Cai, P.; Lin, H.; Tian, Y.; Guo, Y.; Sun, B.; Le, Y.; et al. Discovery of toxin-degrading enzymes with positive unlabeled deep learning. ACS Catalysis 2024, 14, 3336-3348. DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.3c04461.
[7] Zhang, D.*; Wang, Z.; Oberschelp, C.; Bradford, E.; Hellweg, S. Enhanced deep-learning model for carbon footprints of chemicals. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2024, 12 (7), 2700-2708. DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c07038.
[8] Xing, H.; Cai, P.; Liu, D.; Han, M.; Liu, J.; Le, Y.; Zhang, D.*; Hu, Q.-N. High-throughput prediction of enzyme promiscuity based on substrate–product pairs. Briefings in Bioinformatics 2024, 25 (2). DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbae089.
[9] Zhang, D.*; Jia, C.; Sun, D.; Gao, C.; Fu, D.; Cai, P.; Hu, Q. N. Data-driven prediction of molecular biotransformations in food fermentation. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2023, 71 (22), 8488-8496. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c01172
[10] Kou, X.; Shi, P.; Gao, C.; Ma, P.; Xing, H.; Ke, Q.; Zhang, D.* Data-driven elucidation of flavor chemistry. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2023, 71 (18), 6789-6802. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.3c00909.

Academic Posts

Dr. Zhang serves as Associate Editor of npj Science of Food, an Editorial Board Member of several journals, such as the Journal of Food Science, Youth Editor of The Innovation Informatics, and a Guest Editor of Future Foods, and a member of the EFSA’s stakeholder community, Singapore Food Toxicology Network, and NUS Artificial Intelligence Institute.

NUS Webpage

https://www.fst.nus.edu.sg/our_people/faculty-members/zhang-dachuan/

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