John Yang

John Yang is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Vanderbilt University, affiliated with the Data Science Institute and the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering within the School of Engineering. His research integrates computational chemical biology and data science to design functional biomolecules for catalytic and biomedical applications. Born in Tianjin, China, he holds a B.S. from Nankai University (2013) and a Ph.D. from UCLA (2017). He completed postdoctoral work at MIT (2018-2020), focusing on quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations.

Research Focus: His group develops first-principles simulations and machine learning models to design protein mutants, predict mutational hotspots, and create high-throughput workflows for biomolecule discovery. Key areas include enzyme catalysis, peptide machines, and applications in pharmaceuticals and energy.

Labs: Leads the ZJYang Lab, dedicated to computational biomolecule discovery. The lab integrates physics-based modeling and data-driven approaches to automate biomolecule design for real-world applications.