I am a PhD candidate at Harvard University, where my research sits at the intersection of AI and biology. Prior to my doctoral studies, I worked in the tech industry on product development and marketing analytics. Looking ahead, my goal is to advance the integration of biological systems and AI, driving translational impact through technologies that bridge fundamental discovery and real-world application.

Connect with me

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Academia

Publications and Preprints

†: First author, ‡: Corresponding author

Stem Cell Engineering

• Aoyama, J.†, Liu, R.†, Zhang, X.†, Zhu, A., Luanpaisanon, P., Garbern, J., Cao, F., Barrera, I., Sokol, M., Dasariraju, S., Fandl, H., Gil, E.S., Aleksi, E., Amanuma, T., Velayutham, N., Saucerman, J., Chen, F., Liu, J.‡ and Lee., R.T.‡ Flexible Nanoelectronics Reveal Arrhythmogenesis in Transplanted Human Cardiomyocytes. Science, accepted.
• Liu, R.†, Ren, Z.†, Zhang, X.†, Li, Q., Wang, W., Lin, Z., Lee, R.T., Ding, J., Li, N.‡ and Liu, J.‡, 2024. An AI-Cyborg System for Adaptive Intelligent Modulation of Organoid Maturation. Science, in revision.
• Li, Q.†, Liu, R.†, Lin, Z.†, Zhang, X.†, Silva, I.G., Pollock, S.D., Alvarez-Dominguez, J.R.‡ and Liu, J.‡, 2024. Cyborg islets: implanted flexible electronics reveal principles of human islet electrical maturation. bioRxiv, pp.2024-03.

Brain-Machine Interfaces

• Liu, R.†, Zhang, X., Sheng, H. and Liu, J.‡, 2024, December. In Vivo Neural Stimulation and Recording using Flexible Bioelectronics. In 2024 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
• Zhao, H.†‡, Zhang, X.‡, Marin-Llobet, A., Lin, X. and Liu, J., 2025. Benchmarking spike source localization algorithms in high density probes. arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.13451.
• Lin, X.†, Zhang, X., Wang, Z., Chen, J., Lee, J., Lee, A.J., Yang, H., Remy, A., Shen, H., He, Y., Zhao, H., Zhang, X., Wang, W., Aljovic, A., Vlassak, J.J., Lu, N., Liu, J.‡, 2025. Plastic-elastomer heterostructure for robust flexible brain-computer interfaces. bioRxiv, pp.2025-04.
• Zhao, S.†, Shen, H.†, Qin, S., Jiang, S., Tang, X., Lee, M., Zhang, X., Lee, J., Chen, J. and Liu, J.‡, 2024. Realigning representational drift in mouse visual cortex by flexible brain-machine interfaces. bioRxiv, pp.2024-05.
• Marin-Llobet, A.†, Manasanch, A., Sanchez-Manso, S., Tresserras, L., Zhang, X., Hua, Y., Zhao, H., Torao-Angosto, M., Sanchez-Vives, M.V. and Porta, L.D.‡, 2025. Riemannian Geometry for the classification of brain states with intracortical brain-computer interfaces.. arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.05534.

Bio-Inspired and Agentic AI

• Marin-Llobet, A.†, Lin, Z.†, Baek, J.†, Aljovic, A., Zhang, X., Lee, A.J., Wang, W., Lee, J., Shen, H., He, Y., Li, N., Liu, J.‡, 2025. An AI Agent for cell-type specific brain computer interfaces. bioRxiv, pp.2025-09.
• Aljovic, A.†‡ Lin, Z.†‡, Wang, W., Zhang, X., Marin-Llobet, A., Liang, N., Canales, B., Lee, J., Baek, J., Liu, R., Li, C., Li, N., Liu, J.‡, 2025, An autonomous AI agent for universal behavior analysis. bioRxiv, pp.2025-05.
• Lin, Z.†, Wang, W.†, Marin-Llobet, A., Li, Q., Pollock, S.D., Sui, X., Almir Aljovic, Lee, J., Baek, J., Liang, N., Zhang, X., Wang, C.K., Huang, J., Liu, M., Gao, Z., Sheng, H., Du, J., Lee, S.J., Wang, B., He, Y., Ding, J., Wang, X., Alvarez-Dominguez, J.R.‡ and Liu, J.‡, 2025. Spatial transcriptomics AI agent charts hPSC-pancreas maturation in vivo. bioRxiv, pp.2025-04.
• Lin, Z.†, Marin-Llobet, A.†, Baek, J., He, Y., Lee, J., Wang, W., Zhang, X., Lee, A.J., Liang, N., Du, J., Ding, J., Li, N. and Liu. J.‡, 2025. Spike sorting AI agent. bioRxiv, pp.2025-02.
• Du, J.†, Zhang, X., Shen, H., Xian, X., Wang, G., Zhang, J., Yang, Y., Li, N., Liu, J.‡ and Ding, J.‡, 2024. Drift to Remember. arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.13997.

Miscellaneous Research

• Tang, X.†, Zhang, J.†, He, Y.†, Zhang, X., Lin, Z., Partarrieu, S., Hanna, E.B., Ren, Z., Shen, H., Yang, Y., Wang, X., Li, N., Ding, J.‡ and Liu, J.‡, 2023. Explainable multi-task learning for multi-modality biological data analysis. Nature communications, 14(1), p.2546.
• Bu, T.†, Zhang, X.†, Mertz, C. and Dolan, J.M.‡, 2021, September. Carla simulated data for rare road object detection. In 2021 IEEE International Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) (pp. 2794-2801). IEEE.
• Zhang, Y.†, Zhang, X., Liu, J. and Li, N.‡, 2025. Sample Efficient Algorithms for Linear System Identification under Noisy Observations. arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.09057.

Teaching

Teaching Fellow, Harvard University

• Fall 2025, Theory of Neural Computation
• Fall 2025, Neuroengineering
• Fall 2024, Neuroengineering
• Fall 2022, Systems Development for Computational Science

Teaching Assistant, Carnegie Mellon University

• Fall 2020, Deep Reinforcement Learning
• Spring 2020, Signals and Systems (Head TA)
• Fall 2019, Signals and Systems
• Spring 2018, Signals and Systems
• Spring 2017, Fundamentals of Programming
• Fall 2016, Signals and Systems
• Spring 2016, Fundamentals of Programming
• Fall 2015, Fundamentals of Programming
• Summer 2015, Principles of Computing

Peer Tutor, Carnegie Mellon University

• 2015-2020, College Reading and Learning Association Certified Level 2 Advanced Tutor
  • Computer Science
    • Principles of Computing
    • Fundamentals of Programming
    • Principles of Imperative Computing
    • Functional Programming
    • Computer Systems
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
    • Introduction to Electrical and Computer Engineering
    • Signals and Systems
  • Mathematics and Physics
    • Concept of Math
    • Matrices and Linear Transformations
    • Physics for Engineering

Awards and Honors

• The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center Symposium: Biomedical Science and AI
  • Poster Presentation Third Place
• National Institutes of Health BRAIN NeuroAI Workshop
  • Early-Career Scholar Honoraree
  • Best Poster Award Runner-Up
• National Science Foundation EFRI BEGIN OI Award
  • Proposal Co-Author
• Carnegie Mellon University
  • University Honors
  • Carnegie Institute of Technology Research Honors
  • ECE Grace Hopper Conference Scholarship
  • Dean’s List
• IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society Sigma Chapter
  • Corresponding Secretary
  • Elected Member

Talks

• 2025 Harvard University Center for Brain Science Retreat (Poster)
• 2025 Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center Biomedical Science and AI Symposium (Poster)
• 2025 National Science Foundation Workshop on Reinforcement Learning (Poster)
• 2024 National Institutes of Health BRAIN NeuroAI Workshop (Poster)
• 2024 Harvard University BE131 Neuroengineering (Guest lecture)
• 2024 Harvard University BE129 Introduction to Bioelectronics (Guest lecture)

Education

• Harvard University
  • Since 2021, Doctor of Philosophy, Engineering Sciences
  • 2021-2024, Master of Science, Engineering Sciences
• Carnegie Mellon University
  • 2019-2020, Master of Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • 2014-2018, Bachelor of Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mentorship

• 2022-2024, First-Year Advisor, Harvard University
• 2020, Academic Peer Advisor, Carnegie Mellon University

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Industry

Entrepreneurship

• 2017-2019, Talent Pool, Startup Co-Founder

Healthcare

• Summer 2019, Guangdong Sanjiu Brain Hospital, Tech Intern

Product Development and Marketing

• 2021, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Software Engineer
• 2018-2019, Duolingo, Android Developer
• Fall 2018, Expii, Engineer Intern
• Summer 2018, Facebook (Now Meta), Software Engineer Intern
• Summer 2017, Google, Software Engineer Intern
• Summer 2016, Google, Engineering Practicum Intern