Frances Liang
The Nueva School
San Mateo, CA
PLI-Analyzer: A Quantitative Assessment Platform for Biological Accuracy in AI-Predicted Complexes
Frances Liang, 17, of Los Altos Hills, developed a tool called PLI-Analyzer to test if AI-predicted protein complexes are actually biologically plausible for her Regeneron Science Talent Search computational biology and bioinformatics project.
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Since 2020, AI tools have predicted over 200 million protein structures. However, they are less reliable at predicting protein complexes — two or more proteins combining for a specific biological function. The mistakes AI makes about protein complexes are hard to detect. PLI-Analyzer works by comparing predicted complexes with information from existing protein sequence databases.
It found that two existing tools, AlphaFold3 and Boltz-2, on average, predicted only about half of protein complexes accurately. Because these complexes govern biological processes, they are critical for understanding disease and developing treatments. Frances made PLI-Analyzer open source and developed a web app for research teams to use.
The child of Jun Liang and Jessie Jiang, Frances attends The Nueva School (San Mateo), where she co-leads the school’s Journal club. She also founded ChallengHers, a program that helps girls learn critical thinking, innovation and leadership by applying STEM to address community challenges.
Beyond the Project
In middle school, Frances started her school’s girls’ coding club. It eventually grew into ChallengHers, a platform to help girls develop STEM skills and use them to improve their communities.
FUN FACTS: Frances loves to crochet, particularly to make fun gifts. Her favorite creations are a cat in a shark costume for a cat-loving friend, and a roundworm in a cowboy hat riding a fly for her biology teacher.
