Q&A with Zizheng Li: Using AI and Skin Cells to Advance Precision Medicine for ALS
September 3, 2026Zizheng Li, a fifth-year PhD student at the University of California, San Francisco, is using an unconventional approach to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease.
Using skin cells to study a brain disease may seem unconventional, but Zizheng Li is doing just that.
A fifth-year PhD student at the University of California, San Francisco, Li received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Translational Medicine for his research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that destroys nerve cells that control movement.
Although some ALS cases are caused by inherited genetic mutations, nearly 90% of patients have no family history, called sporadic ALS. These cases can vary widely in how quickly the disease progresses and how patients respond to treatment, making it challenging to identify treatments that will work for each person.
Rather than studying nerve cells directly, Li is using artificial intelligence to analyze the appearance and gene activity in patient skin cells. His goal is to identify subgroups of sporadic ALS patients that may respond differently to treatment, helping pave the way for more personalized approaches to care.
“Skin cells can be collected with noninvasive methods, and they will grow up within a few weeks,” Li said. “So ideally, you can get a skin sample from the patient and within a few weeks you can tell, you belong to this subgroup of patients.”
Watch this video to learn more about Li and his research.
