Biography
Prof. Xin Yang was born and raised in Fuzhou, a historic coastal city in southeastern China known for its vibrant food culture and more than two millennia of history. His early fascination with science began during high school, where experiments on natural products and their bioactivities first sparked his curiosity about the chemical foundations of food and health.

Xin earned his B.S. in Food Science and Engineering from Northwest A&F University in 2015, where he built a strong foundation in food chemistry and processing. He then pursued his Ph.D. in Food Science and Technology at the National University of Singapore (2016–2021), under the guidance of Professor Dejian Huang. His doctoral research focused on the chemistry and bioactivities of natural products, including the discovery of novel triterpenoids from Antrodia cinnamomea and the biomimetic synthesis of flavonoid oligomers.

In 2023, Xin joined the Langer Lab and Jaklenec Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Postdoctoral Associate, where he pioneered advanced oral delivery platforms using nutritional metal–organic frameworks (NuMOFs) and biodegradable polymers for micronutrient stabilization. He also integrated artificial intelligence into nutrient and drug delivery research, developing multimodal large language model (LLM)–assisted systems for automated formulation discovery.

Beyond academia, Xin is a co-founder of two startups: MOFood, which developed the world’s first iron-fortified coffee using patented NuMOF technology, and OneNorth Health Tech, a Singapore-based company upcycling food byproducts into high-value functional ingredients such as Okrarose® and MLKI® sunflower protein products.

In 2026, Xin will join the Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University as an Assistant Professor of Food Science, where his research program will focus on functional foods, delivery system and precision nutrition. His long-term vision is to establish a leading Food as Medicine research hub that bridges molecular food science with global health solutions.

Outside the lab, Xin enjoys playing basketball and guitar, exploring local coffee culture, traveling, and sharing food innovations with friends around the world.

Journal Editorial Board Membership

2024.08-now, Associate Editor of eFood

2024.10-now, Youth Editorial Board of Food Science and Human Wellness

2024.08-now, Youth Editorial Board of Food Innovation and Advances

2023.10-now, Scientific Editors of Food Frontiers

2024.03-now, Promotion Editor of Exploration

2024.03-now, Youth Editorial Board of Food Science of Animal Products

2023.11-now, Youth Editorial Board of Journal of Future Foods

2024.01-now, Guest Editors of Foods. Special issue: Bioactivities of Natural Products Extracted from Plant Foods and Their Application in Food Industries.

2022.04-now, Topic Editors of MDPI multi-journal joint topic. Bioactive Compounds with Application Potentials in Nutraceuticals and Nutricosmetics: Focus on Mechanism of Action and Application Science.

Awards and Honors

Kaufman Teaching Certificate, MIT, 2024

Lab-Assistant Teaching Fellow, MIT.nano, the ACT (Art, Culture and Technology) program, 2024

Research Scholarship by the Singapore Ministry of Education, 2016