Wei Li

Computational biologist working on gene editing and cancer biology. Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine. Views are my own.

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

Our most recent Nature Cell Biology paper describes an innovative Perturbation-response Score (PS) method to decode heterogeneous responses of cells to perturbations at single-cell level. Particularly helpful for analyzing Perturb-seq data. https://t.co/KaMvUj7ovH

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

@AustinMHartman This is what we found in 2018 by examing outlier CRISPR-Cas9 guides from pooled CRISPR screens https://t.co/VQwiobqUji

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

Also, especially shout out to the scGPT tool built by @BoWang87. It would be much more difficult to build our model without the wonderful, open-source scGPT!

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

Perturbation-prediction AI models are critical for building virtual cells. Many models exist, but what is next? What is the critical gap to application? Our pertTF preprint shows the next step: cross-system prediction, and beyond gene expression. https://t.co/b28JUZoA8Y

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

A great collaboration with many labs including @DanweiHuangfu @hon_lab @YaruiDiao @hanrui_zhang and many others. It's also great timing as we see many exciting new datasets/models released this month: X-Cell/X-Atlas @Xaira_Thera, in vivo Perturb-seq @perturbai_tx etc.

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

@xinjin @NVIDIAHealth Really incredible resource to understand brain function and great for the AI community. Thanks for releasing all these wonderful datasets!!

[Yarui Diao @YaruiDiao]

Happy to share scHiCAR, an ultra-high throughout (millions of cells), low cost (5 cents/cell including NGS), and trimodal platform for integrated single-cell level analysis of mRNA, open chromatin, and 5-kb resolution looping with ground-truth data the same individual cell.

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

Perturb2026 is an exciting conference about generating perturbation data, building AI models, and interacting with academic and industry attendees. Great lineup of speakers. Come and join us on March 18-19, Vienna, Austria! https://t.co/W4wYXO2nqG

[Bo Wang @BoWang87]

🧬 Building the Virtual Cell starts with data.

Today, we’re making the X-Atlas/Orion Perturb-seq dataset even more accessible — now live on Hugging Face @huggingface 🤗

📊 One of the largest & highest-quality perturbation datasets ever released, it provides the foundation for training AI models that can simulate and reason about cellular behavior.

👉 Explore here: https://t.co/0bszMU32nT

Fewer barriers. More models. A step closer to the virtual cell. 🌌

#VirtualCell #FoundationModels #AIinBiology #HuggingFace

[Yarui Diao @YaruiDiao]

Following 2023 paper, our new study on TE regulation is out today @NatureCellBio! https://t.co/lHsQcDXfek

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

Application is still open until Aug 25. Great for trainees of all levels. Come and join us!

[Cold Spring Harbor Asia @CSHANews]

#CSHAsia Course on #CRISPR #Genome Engineering: Basics, Applications and Future Directions
⌛️Application is still available by Aug. 25
📍Suzhou, China
📅October 9-19, 2025
🎯Undergrad/graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, scientists and professors

[Peng Jiang @PengJiang20]

Our Cell paper is online (https://t.co/t5bOxlCN8q)! We present the CIDE framework, broadly applicable to cancer research and oncology. Also, we highlight AOAH as a promising new immunotherapy.

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

@BaoxuP Also immediately after this course (Oct 9-19) is the CSHA "Systems Biology of Gene Regulation and Genome Editing" conference (Oct 20-24). Great opportunity to attend both events in one place! @CSHANews

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

We are delighted to organize this CSHA inaugural CRISPR course, this October, at the beautiful Suzhou City, China. Great opportunity for trainees/researchers to learn everything about genome engineering and interact with top scientists in the field. App ddl Aug 8.

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

I am thrilled to join UMSOM and work with many great scientists here!

[University of Maryland School of Medicine @UMmedschool]

🎉 Join us in welcoming Dr. Wei Li as Associate Professor in Pharmacology & Physiology at UMSOM!

His groundbreaking work in AI, CRISPR, and cancer biology is driving the future of precision medicine. Welcome aboard, Dr. Li! 👏🔗 https://t.co/a2woRczDNw

[Wei Li @davidliwei]

@jsb_ucla congratulations!!!