Faculty Members

Grant reviewer

• Panel reviewer, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program, 2020
• Panel reviewer, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) research program, 2020

Journal service

• Topic Editor, Molecules, 2021
• Guest Editor, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2021
• Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2019-2021

Professional society service

• Co-chair, “Nutrients: Microbiome Interaction: Feeding the Gut: What Drives a Healthy Gut”, ACS Fall 2021 National Meeting, Atlanta, CA, 2021
• Member, AOCS Young Scientist Research Award Committee, 2020-2021
• Vice Chair, Division of Gastrointestinal Chemistry of the Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (AGFD), American Chemical Society, 2020-2021
• Judge, Withycombe-Charalambous Graduate Student Symposium of AGFD, ACS, 2020
• Chair, “GI Tract-non cancer: colon, liver, pancreas – emphasis on inflammation/metabolic”, 18th International Winter Eicosanoid Conference, Baltimore, MD, 2020

• NUS Faculty of Science Dean’s Chair, 2022-2025
• Young Investigator Award, Foods, 2021
• Samuel Cate Prescott Award, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), 2020
• Young Scientist Research Award, American Oil Chemists’ Society (AOCS), 2019

Food Nutrition and Toxicology

Our laboratory focuses on the effects and mechanisms of bioactive lipids, as well as environmental compounds, on gut microbiota and gut health. The central goal of our research is to develop novel strategies to reduce the risks of gut diseases such as colonic inflammation, colon cancer, and intestinal barrier dysfunction.

1. Zhang J., Gibbs M.E., Sanidad K.Z., Zhang H., Liang Y., Zhao E., Chacon-Vargas K., Yeliseyev V., Parsonnet J., Haggerty T.D., Wang G., Simpson J.B., Jariwala P.B., Beaty V.V., Yang J., Yang H., Panigrahy A., Minter L.M., Kim D., Gibbons J.G., Liu L., Xiao H., Borlandelli V., Overkleeft H.S., Cloer E.W., Major M.B., Goldfarb D., Cai Z., Redinbo M.R., and Zhang G. (2021) Microbial Enzymes Induce Colitis by Reactivating Triclosan in the Mouse Gastrointestinal Tract. Nature Communications, in press.
2. Lei L., Yang J., Zhang J., and Zhang G. (2021) The lipid peroxidation product EKODE exacerbates colonic inflammation and colon tumorigenesis. Redox Biology, 42:101880. Doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2021.101880.
3. Wang Y., Yang J., Wang W., Sanidad K.Z., Cinelli M.A., Wan D., Hwang S.H., Kim D., Lee K.S.S., Xiao H., Hammock B.D., and Zhang G. (2020) Soluble epoxide hydrolase is an endogenous regulator of obesity-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction and bacterial translocation. PNAS 117: 8431-8436.
4. Wang W., Yang J., Edin M.L., Wang Y., Luo Y., Wan D., Yang H., Sanidad K.Z., Song M., Bisbee A.H., Bradbury J.A., Nan G., Zhang J., Shih B., Lee K.S.S., Minter L.M., Kim D., Xiao H., Liu J., Hammock B.D., Zeldin D.C., and Zhang G. (2019) Targeted metabolomics identifies the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase eicosanoid pathway as novel therapeutic target of colon tumorigenesis. Cancer Research 79:1822-1830.  
5. Wang W., Yang J., Zhang J., Wang Y., Hwang S., Qi W., Wan D., Kim D., Sun J., Sanidad K.Z., Yang H., Park Y., Liu J., Liu Z., Hammock B.D., and Zhang G.  (2018) Lipidomic profiling reveals soluble epoxide hydrolase as a therapeutic target of obesity-induced colonic inflammation. PNAS 115:5283-5288. 
6. Yang H., Wang W., Romano K.A., Gu M., Sanidad K., Kim D., Yang J., Schmidt B., Panigrahy D., Pei R., Martin D.A., Ozay E.I., Wang Y., Song M., Bolling B.W., Xiao H., Minter L.M., Yang G., Liu Z., Rey F.E., and Zhang G.  (2018) A common antimicrobial additive increases colonic inflammation and colon tumorigenesis in mice. Science Translational Medicine 10:eaan4116. Doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aan4116.