Ni completed his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences at Nankai University (2008–2012) and his PhD in structural biology at the University of Oxford (2012–2016). Prior to joining the University of Hong Kong, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oxford and eBIC, the UK National Cryo-EM Facility, working on HIV capsid and carboxysomes using cryoEM and cryoET subtomogram averaging.

Ni is a structural biologist specialising in X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and cryo-electron tomography. His main research focus is to understand the molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions and large-molecule assembly mechanisms, aiming to identify novel interfaces to inhibit virus replication. He is also dedicated to method development related to cryo-electron tomography in biological imaging to study macromolecule structure in situ.