Xiaobei Zhan is a Professor at the School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, and is the Discipline Leader of the Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology (Jiangnan University), Ministry of Education. He is also a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Kansas State University. He has been engaged in research of the theory and production application of microbial polysaccharides and functional oligosaccharides for a long time, and has research interests in high-viscosity fermentation technology, microbial polysaccharide biosynthesis, the preparation of functional oligosaccharides, bioreactors, and traditional fermented foods.