Join us on the UC Davis campus to hear Dr. Yonghui Li discuss how AI is helping scientists unlock the health potential of natural compounds in everyday foods.

AI-Powered Discovery of Bioactive Peptides from Food Proteins

Featuring Yonghui Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director, Department of Grain Science and Industry, Wheat Quality Lab Director, Kansas State University

WHAT: Free 1-hour event with a talk by Yonghui Li

WHEN: Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 12-1 PM

WHERE: Physical and Data Sciences Building (PDSB) at UC Davis

REMOTE: Online via Zoom

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: This event is open to all, whether you are a part of the university community, industry, government, or the public.

Join the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS) for a live event with Dr. Yonghui Li exploring how artificial intelligence is accelerating the discovery of health-promoting compounds in food.

Bioactive peptides, short chains of amino acids with targeted benefits, have growing potential in functional foods and nutraceuticals. Traditionally, identifying these compounds required time-consuming lab work. Today, advances in machine learning, especially protein language models, offer faster ways to pinpoint promising peptides.

In this talk, visiting Kansas State faculty member Dr. Yonghui Li will share how his group integrates experimental and computational methods to streamline peptide discovery. The seminar will highlight:

• How food proteins are broken down into peptides with specific bioactivities
• The use of AI, from conventional models to cutting-edge deep learning, to predict peptide function
• The advantages of combining lab experiments with AI models to speed up innovation in food and health

Together, these approaches illustrate the potential of AI to make functional food development more efficient, targeted, and impactful.

Yonghui Li, Ph.D.

Dr. Yonghui Li is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Department of Grain and Food Science at Kansas State University.

He received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and master’s degree in biosystem engineering from Zhejiang University, China, and his Ph.D. in grain science, K-State.

Dr. Li's research focuses on understanding the structure, chemistry, modification, and functionality of grain proteins and bioactive peptides with the aim of developing high-quality, functional grain-based foods, ingredients, and nutraceuticals. His team integrates wet chemistry, engineering principles, computational simulation, and applied machine learning to advance proteins and peptide science.

Since joining the faculty in 2016, Dr. Li has secured over $4.7 million in research funding as lead PI and $1.9 million as co-PI, supported by the USDA, NSF, Kansas grain commissions, and the grain and food industries. He has published over 160 journal articles and 3 patents and edited 3 book volumes. Dr. Li is an associate editor for the Journal of Food Science, Cereal Chemistry, Sustainable Food Proteins, and Agricultural Products Processing and Storage.

This event is being offered in a hybrid format with participants attending both in person and remotely.