Skip to Main Content
Xiaochun Li, Ph.D.

Xiaochun Li, Ph.D.

Titles and Appointments

Professor

Endowed Title
Rita C. and William P. Clements, Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research
School
Medical School
Department
Molecular Genetics | Biophysics
Graduate Programs
Cell and Molecular Biology, Molecular Biophysics
  • Biography

    Dr. Li received his B.S. in 2008 from Tsinghua University in China and finished his Ph.D. training in Structural Biology under the mentorship of Dr. Yigong Shi in 2012. His postdoctoral studies as a Life Science Research Foundation Fellow were conducted with Dr. Günter Blobel, 1999 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, at the Rockefeller University. He went on to win the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center, the Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medicine Breakout Prize for Junior Investigators.

    In 2017, he joined the Department of Molecular Genetics under the leadership of Drs. Joseph Goldstein and Michael Brown, 1985 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine. He has received the Damon Runyon–Rachleff Innovation Award, the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award, as well as support from the NIH and several private foundations. In 2025, he was promoted to Professor and awarded the Eugene McDermott Distinguished Chair in Molecular Genetics.

  • Education
    Undergraduate
    Tsinghua University (2008), Chemistry
    Graduate School
    Tsinghua University (2012), Life Sciences
  • Research Interest
    • Lipid Metabolism and Signaling
    • Lysosomal Membrane Proteins and Lysosomal Storage Diseases
    • Wnt Signaling
  • Publications

    Star Featured Publications

    Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured
  • Books

    Featured 

  • Honors & Awards
    • American Heart Association Established Investigator Award
      (2023-2028)
    • Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award
      (2019-2022)
    • Tri-Institutional (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center, Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell Medicine) Breakout Prize for Junior Investigators
      (2017)
    • The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation
      (2014-2017)
    • C.H. Li Memorial Scholar Fund Award, Rockefeller University
      (2013)
    • The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation Award (2023-2025)