Statistical Genomics Lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center
About me
Department of Biostatistics
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
7007 Bertner Ave
Houston, TX 77030
USA
zli16@mdanderson.orgInternational Statistical Insitute (ISI) Elected Member
My official webpage at MD Anderson
Bio
My research sits at the intersection of statistics, high-throughput biomedical data, and oncology data science, and is motivated by the close interplay between pressing clinical questions and advances in computational biology. I develop statistical and computational methods for complex data generated from spatial omics, single-cell profiling, and other multi-omics platforms, with a particular focus on multi-omics integration, 3D tissue reconstruction, and cell–cell interaction analysis. More broadly, I am interested in creating adaptive and interpretable analytic frameworks that can extract biologically meaningful insights from complex tumor ecosystems and support precision oncology.
A central theme of my work is translating methodological innovation into real biomedical and clinical applications. I have collaborated with multidisciplinary teams in leukemia, breast cancer, lymphoma, radiation oncology, and cellular therapy, contributing to studies of novel therapeutics, tumor evolution, and personalized treatment strategies. I have also provided statistical leadership and support for MD Anderson SPORE projects in brain and prostate cancer, as well as for the Data Coordination Center of the NCI TBEL (Translational and Basic Science Research in Early Lesion) Research Consortia.
Research in my lab has been generously supported by the NIH, including funding from NIGMS (R35GM159819, PI: Li), NHGRI (R01HG14774, PI: Li), NCI (R21CA312466, PI: Li and Ning; U24CA274212, PI: Yuan and Liang Li; U54CA274220, PI: Gan and Lin), and other institutes.
Before joining MD Anderson, I received postdoc training in the lab of Prof. Hao Wu from the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics. I obtained my Ph.D. degree (2018) in Biostatistics from Emory University under the guidance of Prof. Qi Long. Before that, I received my master’s degree (2014) in Biostatistics from Yale School of Public Health and BS degree (2012) in Statistics from the School of Mathematics Sciences at Peking University.