UCLA Chemical Engineer Receives Two Early Career Awards to Fund Microscopic Imaging and Alternative Battery Research
Yuzhang Li, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received a pair of early career awards in recognition of his work, accompanied by a joint total of $1.76 million in grants over the next three years.
Li received today the 2024 National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, among 40 researchers across the country honored by the agency. The award includes an initial three-year, $1.4 million grant to support Li’s research into electrified cryogenic electron microscopy, a new technique developed by his lab, the Li Group at UCLA.
The technique covers a gap between current microscopic imaging techniques and enables a high-resolution molecular-level view of instantaneous biological events, such as a neuron firing. This emerging method, which captures a series of “freeze-framed” views of molecules as they change or take part in a process, could shed new light on biological systems in states away from equilibrium — a previously unexplored area of study.
With new insights gleaned from this technique, Li anticipates applications in neurostimulation treatments, which could help patients suffering from neurological diseases. The technique could help study a range of electrically based biological systems, including muscle cells and heart cells.
Over the summer, Li also received an Army Research Office Young Investigator Award for his work developing “beyond-lithium” battery technologies that are based on magnesium or aluminum. The award includes a three-year, $360,000 grant to fund his research.
A faculty member at UCLA Samueli since 2020, Li researches state-of-the-art experimental tools and engineering methodologies for electrochemical systems with the aim of developing new electrochemical systems that will play a major role in renewable energy, sustainability and addressing global climate change. His research interests include using cryogenic electron microscopy to design next-generation batteries, as well as utilizing nanomaterials for carbon capture. Most notably, his lab has made significant contributions to uncovering key discoveries for next-generation batteries and solar cells.
Among his many accolades, Li’s work has been recognized with a Packard Fellowship, Department of Energy Early Career Award, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Grant and the Electrochemical Society Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship. He has also been featured in prominent news media including Popular Mechanics, ABC7 Bay Area, and was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Science list in 2021.
Li is also a project lead for researching liquid-solid interfaces as part of the Aqueous Battery Consortium — an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional effort headquartered at Stanford University to develop a next generation sustainable, long-lasting and inexpensive battery.
Established in 2007, the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award is part of the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program to support exceptionally innovative high-impact research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received an NIH research project grant. The Army Research Office is a division of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory. The Young Investigator Award hopes to support academic scientists who have received their doctorate within the past five years.