Xiaowei Zhan

Dr. Xiaowei Zhan is an Associate Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center's Department of Population and Data Sciences, where he leads the Quantitative Biomedical Research Center. His lab develops computational models for biomedical challenges including genetic association studies, microbiome analysis, and antibiotic resistance prediction. Previously, he earned his PhD from the University of Michigan and holds degrees from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Tsinghua University.

Research Focus:

• Statistical Genetics: Developing software for rare variant analysis and genetic association studies
• Microbiome Dynamics: Creating quantitative models for cancer immunotherapy biomarkers
• Antibiotic Resistance: Building diagnostic tools using machine learning and sequencing
• Deep Learning: Applying neural networks to solve biomedical problems
• Software Development: Distributing open-source tools like RVTESTS and VAMPr

His publications (2013-2019) demonstrate consistent focus on creating analytical frameworks for genomic data, with recent emphasis on machine learning applications in pathogen genomics and microbiome studies. Tools like FMAP and MetaPrism enable functional analysis of complex biological datasets.

Lab & Collaborations: Dr. Zhan directs a team including doctoral students (Wen Fan, Art Taychameekiatchai, Suzette Palmer, Ruheng Wang) and computational biologists. The lab maintains active collaborations with clinicians and researchers worldwide to address global health challenges.