Dr. Zeng Li is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator at National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore. She earned her BSc in Biology from Beijing Normal University, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Glasgow, followed by postdoctoral training in Signal Transduction group at IMCB. She later joined IMCB’s Developmental Biology group as a Research Scientist where she investigated TAG1-APP signalling in neurogenesis and AD.

Since establishing her research team at NNI in 2009, Dr Zeng has held several academic appointments, including Associate Professor at Duke-NUS NBD programme and Adjunct Associate Professor at LKCmedicine. She currently serves as Deputy Director for Basic Science & Translational Research at NNI.

Her laboratory focuses on translational research in neurodegenerative diseases, collaborating closely with clinicians to unravel the neuro-pathophysiology crosstalk between AD and PD. Notable discoveries include NOTCH2NLC GGC intermediate repeat expansion induces early PD-like phenotypes in NOTCH2NLC Repeat Expansion Associated Disorders (NREDs) (PMC11603791); identifying MSR1-mediated phagocytosis as a common feature across multiple dementia subtypes (PMC12359983); discovering APP/AICD-LRRK2 as a common vicious loop in AD and PD (Science Sig2022), developing drugs targeting the APP/AICD-LRRK2 loop to reverse the neurotoxicity for the treatment of PD (Science Sig2017). Her research employs pre-clinical mouse model, 2D iPSCs and 3D brain organoids derived from neurogenetics patients to elucidate the causes of neurodegeneration and develop novel therapeutic interventions for neurodegenerative diseases.

• Ph.D., University of Glasgow, UK, 1996
• ​B.Sc., Beijing Normal University, China, 1992

• Principal Investigator, National Neuroscience Institute
• Deputy Director, Basic Science & Translational Research, National Neuroscience Institute
• Associate Professor, Programme in Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
• Adjunct Associate Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Member, ISSCR, 2015 - Present
• Secretary, Society of Neuroscience, Singapore, 2014 - Present
• Secretary, Society of Developmental Biologists, Singapore, 2019 - Present
• Operations Committee, Brain Bank Singapore, 2018 – Present

• Best Researcher Award 2025, Neuroscience Awards from International Journal of Molecular Science
• National Day Awards 2023, Ministry of Health
• NNI Publish! Award, 2022
• SingHealth-Duke NUS Research Team Award, 2019
• NNI Publish! Award, 2017
• NNI Publish! Award, 2016
• NNI Publish! Award, 2014
• Best Poster Award (Basic Science), SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress, 2012

• miRNA biomarker in neurodegenerative diseases
• Novel therapeutic development
• Mechanism and pathogenesis in AD and PD

• Chia SY†, Li M†, Li Z, Tu H, Lee JWL, Qiu L, Ling J, Reynolds R, Albani S, Tan EK, Ng ASL, Chen J*, Zeng L*. Single-nucleus transcriptomics reveals a distinct microglia state and increased MSR1-mediated phagocytosis as common features across dementia subtypes. Genome Medicine 2025. IF 11.2.
• Tu H, Yeo XY, Zhang ZW, Zhou W, Tan JY, Chi L, Chia SY, Li Z, Sim AY, Singh BK, Ma D, Zhou Z, Bonne I, Ling SC, Ng ASL, Jung S, Tan EK, Zeng L. NOTCH2NLC GGC intermediate repeat with serine induces hypermyelination and early Parkinson's disease-like phenotypes in mice. Mol Neurodegener 2024 Nov 28;19(1):91. IF 17.5
• Long YH, Ang KS, Li M, Kelvin Chong KL, Sethi R, Zhong C, Xu H, Ong ZW, Sachaphibulkij K, Chen A, Zeng L, Fu H, Wu M, Lina Lim HK, Liu L, Chen J. Spatially informed clustering, integration, and deconvolution of spatial transcriptomics with GraphST. Nature Communication. 2023. IF 17.69.
• Kumar P, Lim A, Hazirah SN, Chua CJH, Ngoh A, Poh SL, Yeo TH, Lim J, Ling S, Sutamam NB, Petretto E, Low DCY, Zeng L, Tan EK, Arkachaisri T, Yeo JG, Ginhoux F, Chan D, Albani S. Single-cell transcriptomics and surface epitope detection in human brain epileptic lesions identifies pro-inflammatory signaling. Nat Neurosci. 2022 Jul;25(7):956-966. IF 28.771.
• Zhang ZW*, Tu HT*, Jiang M, Vanan S, Chia SY, Jang SE, Saw WT, Ong ZW, Ma DR, Zhou ZD, Xu J, Guo KW, Yu WP, Ling SC, Margolin RA, Chain DG, Zeng L*, Tan EK*. APP Intracellular Domain Promotes Expression of LRRK2 Enabling a Feed-Forward Loop of Neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s Disease. Sci Signal 2022. IF 9.517.
• For Full List of Publications: Zeng Li-ResearchGate