He is mainly engaged in research in the direction of yeast synthetic biology, including genomics studies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other non-conventional industrial yeasts, the development of genetic manipulation tools, and the creation of artificial yeast chassis for the green production of biobased organic acids (succinic acid, L-malic acid, L-lactic acid, etc.) and steroidal compounds (diosgenin, hydrocortisone, etc.).

Ph.D., Associate Researcher of Key Laboratory of Systems Microbial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He got his BS from the Hebei Agricultural University and his Ph.D. from Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has co-authored 25 peer-reviewed articles in core international journals including Metabolic Engineering, Microbial Cell Factories, and ACS Synthetic Biology. 

(1) Xi,Y.; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Microbial L-malic acid production: History, current progress, and perspectives. Green Carbon 2023, 1(2), 118-132. DOI: 10.1016/j.greenca.2023.10.005.

(2) Gu, L.#; Zhang, R.#; Fan, X.#; Wang, Y.; Ma, K.; Jiang, J.; Li, G.; Wang, H.*; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Development of CRISPR/Cas9-Based Genome Editing Tools for Polyploid Yeast Cyberlindnera jadinii and Its Application in Engineering Heterologous Steroid-Producing Strains. ACS Synth Biol 2023, 12 (10), 2947-2960. DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.3c00278. 

(3) Xi, Y.; Xu, H.; Zhan, T.; Qin, Y.; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Metabolic engineering of the acid-tolerant yeast Pichia kudriavzevii for efficient L-malic acid production at low pH. Metab Eng 2023, 75, 170-180. DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2022.12.007. 

(4) Xu, L.; Wang, D.; Chen, J.; Li, B.; Li, Q.; Liu, P.; Qin, Y.; Dai, Z.*; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for gram-scale diosgenin production. Metab Eng 2022, 70, 115-128. DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2022.01.013. 

(5) Xu, L.#; Liu, P.#; Dai, Z.; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Fine-tuning the expression of pathway gene in yeast using a regulatory library formed by fusing a synthetic minimal promoter with different Kozak variants. Microb Cell Fact 2021, 20 (1), 148. DOI: 10.1186/s12934-021-01641-z. 

(6) Xi, Y.#; Zhan, T.#; Xu, H.; Chen, J.; Bi, C.; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Characterization of JEN family carboxylate transporters from the acid-tolerant yeast Pichia kudriavzevii and their applications in succinic acid production. Microb Biotechnol 2021, 14 (3), 1130-1147. DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.13781. 

（7）Chen, J.#; Fan, F.#; Qu, G.#; Tang, J.; Xi, Y.; Bi, C.; Sun, Z.*; Zhang, X*. Identification of Absidia orchidis steroid 11beta-hydroxylation system and its application in engineering Saccharomyces cerevisiae for one-step biotransformation to produce hydrocortisone. Metab Eng 2020, 57, 31-42. DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2019.10.006. 

（8）Chen, J.; Tang, J.; Xi, Y.; Dai, Z.; Bi, C.; Chen, X.; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. Production of 14alpha-hydroxysteroids by a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae biocatalyst expressing of a fungal steroid 14alpha-hydroxylation system. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2019, 103 (20), 8363-8374. DOI: 10.1007/s00253-019-10076-x. 

（9） Xiao, M.#; Zhu, X.#; Xu, H.; Tang, J.; Liu, R.; Bi, C.; Fan, F.*; Zhang, X*. A novel point mutation in RpoB improves osmotolerance and succinic acid production in Escherichia coli. BMC Biotechnol 2017, 17 (1), 10. DOI: 10.1186/s12896-017-0337-6.