Born and raised in Northern China, I was a first-generation college student who studied biological sciences at China Agricultural University in Beijing. After college, I spent two years working as a lab technician at the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing where I became interested in scientific research and decided to pursue an academic career. I got accepted into the biology PhD program at Duke University, initially thinking to study plant biology. Serendipitously, I was exposed to neuroscience and deeply hooked by the complexity of the brain because of that experience. I became the first graduate student in the Dr. Pelin Volkan Lab, where I utilized the powerful fly genetics in combination with then emerging RNA sequencing and CRISPR/Cas9 technologies to identify conserved gene regulatory mechanisms that control sensory neuron diversification.
Intrigued by the mysterious glial cells that are much understudied, I then pursued my postdoctoral training with the late Dr. Ben Barres and Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray at Stanford University. This also was when I developed a keen interest in understanding the heterogeneity and function of microglial cells in the brain. My research employing an unbiased deep single cell RNA sequencing approach to dissect transcriptomic states of brain immune cells has contributed to benchmarking the current framework of microglial heterogeneity in the healthy and aging brain (Li et al. 2019. Neuron; Tabula Muris Consortium. 2018. Nature; Tabula Muris Consortium. 2020. Nature). I also authored one of the most highly cited review articles on microglia and brain macrophages (Li et al. 2018. Nature Reviews Immunology).
In 2020, I started my own laboratory as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. At WashU, I am affiliated with the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders, the Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG) Center, and the Center of Regenerative Medicine. My lab is broadly interested in neuroimmunology, with a specific focus on microglial biology. The overarching goal is to leverage cutting-edge genomic technologies alongside novel molecular and genetic tools to investigate neuro-immune interactions that impact brain structure and disease.
Honors and Awards
- 2022 The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation’s NARSAD Young Investigator Grant
- 2021 Whitehall Foundation Grant
- 2016-2017 Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University
- 2014 Ray J. Tysor Graduate Fellowship, Duke University
- 2014 Departmental Semester Fellowship, Duke University
- 2011-2012 Howard Hughes Vertical Integration Partnership Program Fellowship
- 2010-2011 Graduate School Travel Award, Duke University