Yanjing Li

I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the University of Washington, advised by Prof. David Baker at the Institute for Protein Design. My research focuses on AI for protein design, with broader interests in AI for drug discovery, biology, and chemistry.

I have been worked in the AI for Science lab at the California Institute of Technology with Prof. Anima Anandkumar and Dr. Shengchao Liu on molecule geometry learning. I also have a close collaboration with Prof. Hongyu Guo from the University of Ottawa and NRC Canada. I obtained my Master’s degree in Computational Biology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2023. During my time at CMU, I worked with Prof. Hosein Mohimani in natural antibiotics prediction from microbial genome. Meanwhile, I worked with Prof. David Ryan Koes and Dr. Andrew McNutt from the University of Pittsburgh on deep-learning-based knowledge distillation for a protein-ligand docking tool GNINA. These experiences initialized my interest in computational drug design.

I also have dual Bachelor’s degrees from Southwest Jiaotong University in China and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium (sponsored as an exchange student).

Besides Research

• Bye Marco Reus - Captain of Dortmund forever I am a fan of Borussia Dortmund, a soccer club in Bundesliga. I have been to Westfalenstadion in the Signal Iduna Park in German to support the team.
• Cartoon character Crayon Shin-chan always helps me find warmth in the mundane and feel the beauty of life. He inspires me to take responsibility in my family and provide a better life for my loved ones.
• Check my favourite song here.