Asst Prof Anni Zhang

Courtesy Appointment, SCELSE
Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, NTU

Email: anni.zhang@ntu.edu.sg

Dr Anni Zhang is an Assistant Professor in NTU School of Biological Sciences and holds a Courtesy Appointment in SCELSE.

Her research centers on uncovering diverse microbial mechanisms through AI. Her lab focuses on advancing the design of microbiome therapeutics through the discovery of novel genetic exchange mechanisms. The lab is also dedicated to enhancing phage therapy by predicting phage host range and identifying novel phage defense strategies. In addition, her team is going to develop bacteria-based cancer therapies by predicting protein-DNA and protein-ligand binding patterns.

Anni earned her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Hong Kong in 2018, where she investigated high-risk antibiotic resistance genes in environmental microbiomes using genome and metagenome bioinformatics. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology at Nanjing University in 2014, focusing on antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in yeasts.

Before joining NTU, she was a Research Associate at the Alm Lab at MIT from 2023–2024 and held a postdoctoral position there from 2018–2023. During this time, she contributed to significant advancements in understanding microbiome interactions and developing faster, more accurate sequencing tools. Visit her lab website : Genomiverse Lab and video cv to find out more about her Postdoc work and future research PhD work.