Dr. Xinjun Zhang

Biography

Xinjun (Jun) Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on human evolutionary biology, specifically examining admixture and gene flow in populations as essential evolutionary mechanisms that have shaped human history and genetic diversity. In his lab, he integrates population genetics theories with statistical and computational methods along with empirical human genomic data to address pressing questions about human evolution and health, particularly the interactions between admixture and natural selection. His groundbreaking studies involve ancient DNA, revealing the roles of archaic hominins such as Neanderthals and Denisovans in modern human ancestry and adaptations. He has developed a machine learning method called MaLAdapt, which efficiently identifies adaptive introgression, improving detection of beneficial genomic changes while accounting for confounding non-adaptive processes. MaLAdapt has shown to outperform existing methodologies through validations using realistic simulations and empirical genomic signals. Furthermore, his work has identified novel adaptive introgression loci in non-African populations, contributing to our understanding of the genes that regulate vital biological pathways concerning metabolism and immune responses.

Research Interests

Experience