Biyan ZHANG

Biography

Dr Biyan Zhang received her Bachelor of Science from the National University of Singapore in 2013. She was subsequently awarded the National Science Scholarship (PhD) and started a one-year research attachment with Dr. Wong Siew Cheng at the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) where they studied the regulation of inflammatory responses in monocyte subsets. In 2014, she embarked on her graduate studies at Yale University, USA, where she studied the role of Dedicator of cytokinesis 8 (Dock8) in the regulation of mucosal antibodies (Immunoglobulin A; IgA) as well as their roles in food allergy. Under the guidance of Dr. Stephanie Eisenbarth, Biyan developed mouse models of food allergy and found divergent requirements for T follicular helper cells in the production of food antigens-specific IgA and IgE during allergic sensitization. Upon the completion of her PhD in 2020, Biyan returned to SIgN for her postdoctoral training under Prof. Lam Kong Peng where she studied the factors that regulate germinal centre B cell differentiation and maintenance.

With support from the Career Development Fund (CDF) in 2021 and National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Young Investigator Research Grant (OF-YIRG) in 2024, Biyan started her own research group in 2026. Her current research interest lies in the understanding of mechanisms that initiate, regulate and maintain antibody responses during allergic diseases and vaccination.  

Main Appointments

• Group Leader, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN, A*STAR, Singapore)

Awards

2024 - National Medical Research Council Open Fund - Young Investigator Research Grant (OF-YIRG)

2021 - Career Development Fund

2013 - A*STAR National Science Scholarship (PhD)

2011 - A*STAR Pre-Graduate Award

Research Focus

Our lab is broadly interested in the dynamics and mechanisms of protective versus pathogenic antibody production in mucosal sites during vaccination and allergy respectively.

Research Area 1:

Food allergy is a rising problem in Singapore with seafood being the most common trigger of anaphylactic episodes seen in the pediatrics emergency department (Ganapathy et al., 2016). Immunoglobulin E is the pathogenic antibody responsible for most of the clinical reactivity to food.  One of the key research areas in our lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms that determine the longevity of IgE in the system and outline the factors that underlie persistent clinical reactivity to food antigens.

Research Area 2:

The mucosae are key sites of pathogen entry and therefore having a fortified mucosal barrier is key in protection against infectious diseases. However, due to the paucity of effective and safe mucosal adjuvants, development of mucosal vaccines had been challenging and many vaccines delivered mainly intramuscularly or subcutaneously fail to generate adequate protective mucosal antibody responses. Therefore, a second research focus in our lab is to understand the pathways and design vaccination strategies that 1) initiate and maintain memory B cell and plasma cell formation at barrier tissue sites 2) draw protective immune cells to mucosal surfaces.

Lab Members

Publications

Publications_Biyan Zhang (last updated on 23 April 2026)