Chi Li, PhD


Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Pharmacology & Toxicology; Associate Scientist, James Graham Brown Cancer Center

Research Program
Molecular Targets

Education
B.S., University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Biology, 1991
M.A., Columbia University, New York, 1995
M.Phil., Columbia University, New York, Molecular Biology, 1995
Ph.D., Columbia University, New York, Molecular Biology, 1998

Research and Professional Experience

1993-1998         
Graduate Research, Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, NY

1998-1999         
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Chicago

1999-2006                   
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center

2006-present     
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

2006-present   
Associate Scientist, James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville

Selected Awards and Professional Honors

1992-1998
Faculty Fellowship, Columbia University

1996
James Howard McGregor Prize, Columbia University

1998
Peter Sajovic Memorial Prize, Columbia University

2001-2004
National Research Service Award Training Grant

2005-2011
Howard Temin Career Development Award (National Institutes of Health)

Research Interest

Apoptosis is a biological process that plays critical roles in normal tissue, development, homeostasis maintenance, and disease progression.  Evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer.  The research in the LI laboratory focuses on understanding how Bcl-2 family proteins regulate apoptosis.  His laboratory also is exploring new therapeutic treatments to induce apoptosis in tumor cells but not in normal cells.  A currently pursued strategy is to activate the apoptotic pathway in tumor cells directly by reducing the activity of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins or enhancing the function of pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins.

Publications

Um M*, Li C.* Manley JL.  Transcriptional repressor Even-skipped interacts directly with TATA-binding protein.  Mol Cell Biol 15:5007-16, 1995 (* The first  two authors contributed equally to the paper)

Manley JL, Um M, Li C, Ashali H.  Mechanism of transcriptional activation and repression can both involve TFIID.  Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 351:516-26, 1996

Li C, Manley JL.  Even-skipped represses transcription by binding TBP and blocking the TFIID-TATA box interaction.  Mol Cell Biol 18:3771-81, 1998              

Li C, Manley JL.  Allosteric regulation of Even-Skipped repression activity by phosphorylation.  Mol Cell 3:77-86, 1999  

Li C, Fox CJ, Master SR, Bindokas VP, Chodosh LA, Thompson CB.  Bcl-XL affects Ca2+ homeostasis by regulating expression of inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor.  Proc Nat. Acad Sci USA 99:9830-35, 2002

Li C, Thompson CB.  DNA damage, deamidation, and death.  Science 298:1346-7, 2002

Zong W-X*, Li C*, Hatzivassiliou G, Lindsten T, Yu Q-C, Yuan J, Thompson CB.  Bax and Bak can localize to the endoplasmic reticulum to initiate apoptosis.  J Cell Biol 162:59-69, 2003 (* The first two authors contributed equally to the paper)

Lum JJ, Bauer DE, Kong M, Harris MH, Li C, Lindsten T, Thompson CB.  Growth factor regulation of autophagy and cell survival in the absence of apoptosis.  Cell 120:237-48, 2005

Oltersdorf T, Elmore SW, Shoemaker AR, Armstrong RC, Augeri D, Belli BA, Bruncko M, Deckwerth TL, Dinges J, Hajduk PJ, Joseph MK, Kitada S, Korsmeyer SJ,  Kunzer AR, Leita A, Li C, Mitten MJ, Nettesheim DG, Ng S, Nimmer PM, O'Connor JM, Oleksijew A, Petros AM, Reed JC, Shen W, Tahir SK, Thompson CB, Tomaselli KJ, Wang B, Wendt MD, Zhang H, Fesik SW, Rosenberg SH.  An inhibitor of Bcl-2 family proteins induces regression of solid tumors.  Nature 435:677-81, 2005

White C*, Li C*, Yang J, Petrenko NB, Madesh M, Thompson CB, Foskett KJ.  The endoplasmic reticulum gateway to apoptosis: Bcl-XL modulation of the InsP3.  Nature Cell Biol 10: 1021-8, 2005 (* The first  two authors contributed equally to the paper)

Bivona TG, Quatela SE, Bodemann BO, Ahearn IM, Soskis MJ, Mor A, Miura J, Wiener HH, Wright L, Saba SG, Yim D, Fein A, Perez de Castro I, Li C, Thompson CB, Cox AD, Philips MR.  PKC regulates a farnesyl-electrostatic switch on K-Ras that promotes its association with Bcl-Xl on mitochondria and induces apoptosis.  Mol Cell 21:481-93, 2006

Li C, Wang X, Vais H, Thompson CB, Foskett JK, White C. Apoptosis regulation by Bcl-xL modulation of mammalian inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor channel isoform gating. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:12565-70, 2007.