Dr. Lian Li
Dr. Lian Li is Professor and Vice Chair of Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine and Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Fellow. Prior to joining Emory University in 2001, she served on the faculty of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Li received her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from University of California at Davis and completed her postdoctoral training in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience with Nobel Laureate Paul Greengard at the Rockefeller University.
Dr. Li’s research focuses on neuronal signaling mechanisms, neurodegenerative disease pathways and therapeutic target discovery. She leads a laboratory in discovering and studying molecular mechanisms that control brain function in health and neurodegenerative diseases by using a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary approach that combines proteomics, biochemistry, cell biology, molecular genetics, and network biology analyses with translational studies in postmortem human patient brains. The Li laboratory has identified and characterized more than a dozen of novel regulators of neuronal signaling and protein trafficking, and their work has provided insights into the fundamental mechanisms controlling synaptic vesicle exocytosis, endosome-to-lysosome trafficking, mitochondrial dynamics, and ubiquitin-mediated signal transduction. Furthermore, studies from her group have uncovered new molecular pathways linking dysregulated trafficking and signaling to the pathogenesis of several neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson’s disease, and peripheral neuropathy. Current research projects in the Li laboratory are aimed at elucidation of the pathogenic mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders and discovery of new molecular targets for therapeutic intervention.