Li Lab | Google Scholar Profile
Bio
Prior to joining WashU School of Medicine, Dr. Yang Li served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Bing Ren’s Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California San Diego. He holds a PhD in Computational Biology & Bioinformatics under the supervision of Dr. Zhi John Lu from Tsinghua University and Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and Laws from Sichuan University.
Research focus
Our long-term research interest is to develop innovative computational tools, deep learning models, conduct large-scale integrative analyses, and apply advanced (epi)genomic techniques to gain a comprehensive understanding of gene regulation in mammalian models and human diseases, particularly in brain tumors and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Select Publications
| YE Li, S Preissl, M Miller, ND. Johnson, Z Wang, H Jiao, C Zhu, Z Wang, Y Xie, OB Poirion, A Pinto- Duarte, W Tian, K Siletti, N Emerson, J Osteen, J Lucero, L Lin, Q Yang, S Espinoza, Q Zhu, N Zemke, AM Yanny, J Nyhus, N Dee, T Casper, N Shapovalova, D Hirschstein, R Hodge, S Linnarsson, T Bakken, B Levi, CD Keene, J Shang, E Lein, A Wang, MM Behrens, JR Ecker, B Ren#. (2023) A comparative atlas of single-cell chromatin accessibility in the human brain Science. 13;382(6667):eadf7044. (highlighted by NIH, Nature, USA today, HealthDay, genomeweb, The Economist, Reuters, NPR, Fierce biotech, Endpoints News) |
| YE Li*, S Preissl*, X Hou, Z Zhang, K Zhang, Y Qiu, OB Poirion, B Li, J Chiou, H Liu, A Pinto- Duarte, N Kubo, X Yang, R Fang, X Wang, JY Han, J Lucero, Y Yan, M Miller, S Kuan, D Gorkin, KJ Gaulton, Y Shen, M Nunn, EA Mukamel, MM Behrens, JR Ecker, B Ren#. (2021) An atlas of gene regulatory elements in adult mouse cerebrum Nature. 598(7879):129-136. (highlighted by Nature and NIH) |
| S Teng*, YE Li*, M Yang, R Qi, Y Huang, Q Wang, Y Zhang, S Chen, S Li, K Lin, Y Cao, Q Ji, Q Gu, Y Cheng, Z Chang, W Guo, P Wang, I Garcia-Bassets, ZJ Lu#, D Wang#. (2020) Tissue-specific transcription reprogramming promotes liver metastasis of colorectal cancer. Cell Research. 30(1):34- 49. |
| YE Li*, M Xiao*, B Shi*, YCT Yang, D Wang, F Wang, M Marcia and ZJ Lu. Identification of high-confidence RNA regulatory elements by combinatorial classification of RNA-protein binding sites. (2017) Genome Biology. 18:169. |
| JT Li#, Y Li, S Klaus, DQ Rao, DM. Hillis and YP Zhang#. Diversification of rhacophorid frogs provides evidence for accelerated faunal exchange between India and Eurasia during the Oligocene. (2013) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 110(9): 3441-3446. |
Latest News
Yang (Eric) Li, PhD, receives first R35 to interpret human genetic variants via AI/ML and comparative genomics
Yang (Eric) Li, PhD, an assistant professor of genetics and neurosurgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a five-year Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA, R35) from the National Institutes of Health, to develop computational approaches for understanding how gene regulation differs between humans and animal models and how those differences may affect the study of human disease.
Yang Li, PhD, awarded prestigious ALSF ‘A’ Award Grant for pediatric brain tumor research
The Department of Genetics is proud to announce that Yang Li, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Neurosurgery, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) ‘A’ Award Grant for his groundbreaking work in childhood cancer research. The award provides $800,000 in total funding over four years, supporting Dr. Li’s efforts to advance understanding of aggressive pediatric brain tumors.
Dr. Yang Eric Li awarded St. Baldrick’s Foundation research grants to study pediatric cancers (Links to an external site)
Li was awarded the St. Baldrick’s Foundation Scholar Grant, which provides $234,000 for his project to study disruptions in gene activity that may underlie diffuse midline glioma.
Dr. Yang (Eric) Li’s First-authored Paper Published in Nature
As part of NIH’s BRAIN Initiative, Nature recently published 10 papers mapping the first mammalian brain. Genetics Assistant Professor Dr. Yang (Eric) Li, a contributor in this project, co-first-authored one of the Nature papers titled: Single-cell analysis of chromatin accessibility in the adult mouse brain. Li has also contributed to two other papers in this […]
Detailed cell maps of the human brain bring new treatment possibilities
In Yang Eric Li’s newly published paper in Science, A comparative atlas of single-cell chromatin accessibility in the human brain, he and his colleagues revealed the largest maps of the human brain, uncovering new information that was never available before.