Zhantao Chen

About

Zhantao Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He leads the Group for AI in Materials Modeling and Analytics (GAMMA). Prior to joining UT Austin in 2025, Dr. Chen was a Research Associate at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from 2022 to 2025. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2022. His research develops artificial intelligence and machine learning methods for materials modeling, characterization, and discovery, with the vision of enabling AI-driven autonomous research platforms. His long-term goal is to integrate design, synthesis, and characterization into closed-loop, intelligent workflows that accelerate materials discovery and advance fundamental materials science.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary biology
• Agronomy
• Cell biology
• Ecology
• Endocrinology
• Botany
• Computational biology

Selected publications

• Genomic diversifications of five Gossypium allopolyploid species and their impact on cotton improvement

  Nature Genetics · 2020 · 485 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Polyploidy is an evolutionary innovation for many animals and all flowering plants, but its impact on selection and domestication remains elusive. Here we analyze genome evolution and diversification for all five allopolyploid cotton species, including economically important Upland and Pima cottons. Although these polyploid genomes are conserved in gene content and synteny, they have diversified by subgenomic transposon exchanges that equilibrate genome size, evolutionary rate heterogen…

  DOI

• A Pan-plant Protein Complex Map Reveals Deep Conservation and Novel Assemblies

  Cell · 2020 · 240 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Rice Circadian Clock Regulates Tiller Growth and Panicle Development Through Strigolactone Signaling and Sugar Sensing

  The Plant Cell · 2020 · 223 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  expression in roots and tiller buds to promote tiller-bud outgrowth. The circadian clock integrates sugar responses and the SL pathway to regulate tiller and panicle development, providing insights into improving plant architecture and yield in rice and other cereal crops.

  DOI

• Asymmetric variation in DNA methylation during domestication and de-domestication of rice

  The Plant Cell · 2023-06-05 · 64 citations

  articleOpen access

  Hundreds of plant species have been domesticated to feed human civilization, while some crops have undergone de-domestication into agricultural weeds, threatening global food security. To understand the genetic and epigenetic basis of crop domestication and de-domestication, we generated DNA methylomes from 95 accessions of wild rice (Oryza rufipogon L.), cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) and weedy rice (O. sativa f. spontanea). We detected a significant decrease in DNA methylation over the cour…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance during plant evolution and breeding

  Trends in Plant Science · 2024-05-28 · 52 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• EAGER: Dosage and Small RNA Regulation of Imprinting and Seed Development

  NSF · $359k · 2011–2015

• Functional and Sequence Analysis of Fiber Development in Allotetraploid Cotton

  NSF · $3.9M · 2010–2017

• Sequencing a Reference-grade Genome of the Domesticated Allotetraploid Cotton: the World's Largest Source of Renewable Textile Fiber

  NSF · $2.2M · 2015–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Qingxin Song

  Nanjing Agricultural University

  62 shared

• Wenxue Ye

  Nanjing Agricultural University

  32 shared

• Shuai Cao

  21 shared

• Tongwen Han

  Shandong Agricultural University

  17 shared

• Misook Ha

  Samsung (South Korea)

  15 shared

• David M. Stelly

  Mitchell Institute

  15 shared

• Longfei Wang

  Nanjing Agricultural University

  15 shared

• Atsumi Ando

  The University of Texas at Austin

  14 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  2022

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