Zhixin Li, Ph.D
Postdoctoral Fellow ​(2022.11 - )
Ph.D., Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong

Background: I initially engaged academia by studying the functions of stress-related genes in plants using molecular biology approaches. The working experience at Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) where people extensively use next-generation sequencing (NGS) in both basic and translational research profoundly inspire me to choose my further academic direction. Then, I started my training at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to become a dedicated computational biologist, where I mainly focus on single-cell sequencing data analyses and closely collaborated with human geneticists, developmental biologists and clinical experts. I joined the Sethi Lab as a computational postdoctoral fellow in the fall of 2022 to pursue further applications of single-cell sequencing in cancer research.
 
Research Interests:  I am currently studying the cellular and molecular basis of gastrointestinal cancer using cutting-edge single-cell multi-omics and Perturb-seq approaches. We conduct both basic and translational research in the laboratory and I particularly focus on understanding of the specific genomic alterations and fundamental molecular mechanisms that enable gastrointestinal cancer initiation using computational approaches. My passion for computational research is fundamentally dependent on its power to help us to understand and interpret the rapidly accumulating biomedical big data. To test our biological hypotheses, we generate high-quality NGS datasets through robust experimental design and process them by state-of-the-art tools and novel algorithms we developed. I hope this could ultimately discover potential drug targets that can improve patient care.
 
 
Fun Facts and Interests: I’m an amateur trail runner and got bronze medal in the Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race (103km, finished in 22hr) in 2021. I frequently participated in various hiking activities and met many interested friends out-door. I hope to run full marathons in both Boston and New York next year. I also like music which can significantly increase my working efficiency.

Contact: zhixin_li@dfci.harvard.edu