Hi! I am Xuting Zhang, a third-year undergraduate at Westlake University, advised by Prof. Jianyang Zeng. I am also fortunate to conduct research on drug discovery at Duke University under the supervision of Prof. Rohit Singh. Previously, during my freshman year, I had the valuable opportunity to work with Prof. Fajie Yuan on developing large-scale protein language models and with Prof. Yanxiao Zhang on aging research through the analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data from mice.
My research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning and life sciences (AI4Science). I primarily focus on developing novel computational methods for biological discovery, including the construction of multi-omics models and protein language models for applications in protein interaction and design. Additionally, I am passionate about developing new algorithms for single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and leveraging them for clinical data analysis.
Research Interests:
- Spatial Transcriptomics Algorithm Development and Clinical Data Analysis
- Computational Protein Design and Optimization
- AI-driven Drug Discovery and Target Identification
- Single-cell Multi-omics Integration and Analysis
📖 Educations
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2025.08 - 2025.12
Visiting International Student
Duke University, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
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🔥 News
- 2025.08: “A tri-modal protein language model enables advanced protein searches” is accepted by Nature Biotechnology!
- 2025.08: “SaprotHub: Democratizing Protein Language Model Training, Sharing and Collaboration for the Biology Community” is accepted in principle by Nature Biotechnology!
- 2023.07: I was admitted to Westlake University during my sophomore year of high school.
📝 Publications
A tri-modal protein language model enables advanced protein searches Jin Su †, Yan He †, Shiyang You †, Shiyu Jiang ‡, Xibin Zhou ‡, Xuting Zhang, Yuxuan Wang, Igor Tolstoy, Hongyuan Lu, Xing Chang, Fajie Yuan. Nature Biotechnology, 2025, (Accept). Online Server
SaprotHub: Democratizing Protein Language Model Training, Sharing and Collaboration for the Biology Community Jin Su, Zhikai Li, Tianli Tao, Chenchen Han, Yan He, Xuting Zhang, Yuyang Zhou, Junjie Shan, Xibin Zhou, Xing Chang, Shiyu Jiang, Dacheng Ma, The OPMC, Martin Steinegger, Sergey Ovchinnikov, Fajie Yuan. Nature Biotechnology, 2025, (Accepted in principle). GitHub | OPMC
📝 Manuscripts
STARNet enables spatially resolved inference of gene regulatory networks from spatial multi-omics data Lei Hu †, Shichen Zhang †, Xuting Zhang †, Yihai Luo †, Haoteng Gu, Peng Liu, Sheng Mao, Li Chen, Yuhao Xia, Minghao Yang, Sai Zhang, Yaosen Min, Han Li, Peizhuo Wang, Hongtao Yu, Jianyang Zeng. bioRxiv, 2025. Tutorials
🎖 Honors and Awards
- 2024.10 Outstanding Undergraduate Second-Class Scholarship (Top 15%), Westlake University
- 2024.10 Exploration Award (For Undergraduate Academic Innovation), Westlake University
- 2024.08 Gold Medal (Protein Design Track), SynBio Challenges, Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology
- 2024.06 Best Project Award (Group Leader), CST1000: Introduction to Computer Programming, Westlake University
💬 Talks
- 2024.08, “Predict Mutational Effect with Protein Language Model”, Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology
🏃 Miscellaneous
In my free time, I enjoy hiking, traveling, and photography. My favorite musician is JJ Lin. I am also very interested in finance and economics. I once traveled to Nagasaki, Japan, during a regular semester’s weekend.
