University of Georgia
Using plant and microbial synthetic biology to study and design plant form/function, engineer plant microbiomes, and aid biological carbon sequestration.
Our research aims to elucidate the mechanism of membrane transporters, flippases, and polymerases involved in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, unravel how their function influences bacterial adaptation, discover inhibitory molecules for the development of new antimicrobials, and repurpose the activity of these proteins for applications in the synthesis of glycoconjugates. Our lab uses a multidisciplinary approach, combining techniques such as single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), X-ray crystallography, live cell assays, and various biochemical/biophysical methods to study the function and molecular mechanism of membrane proteins.
Adverse neurological outcomes; Host-Microbe-Chemical (3-way) interaction; C. elegans model organism.
Understanding and forecasting infectious disease dynamics with the goal of improving public health outcomes and policies; specialize in integrating population-level infectious disease data with epidemiological models through statistical analysis and simulation; primarily work on respiratory viruses like influenza and COVID-19, among others.
Multi-modal signaling between plants and insects, evolution and mechanism of inter-species interactions. Techniques include insect behavior, chemical ecology, and phylogenetics.
Biology education; Understanding student scientific development; Biological modeling in classrooms; Instructor reasoning in non-traditional classrooms
The research in Dr. Li’s laboratory combines biochemistry, genetics, adductomics and computational approaches to investigate effects of epigenetics and spatial genome organization on environmental carcinogen-induced DNA damage formation, DNA repair, mutagenesis, and carcinogenesis.
Traumatic brain injury: brain network under biomechanical attack, understanding the networked brain through its injury, injury biomechanics, network neuroscience.
Characterization and modeling of antimicrobial resistance and disease transmission in air and water and the implications for human and environmental health.
