Xiaochun Li, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Undergraduate

Tsinghua University (2008), Chemistry

Graduate School

Tsinghua University (2012), Life Sciences

• Cholesterol Metabolism
• Hedgehog signaling pathway
• Lysosomal membrane proteins and lysosomal storage diseases

Featured Publications

Structural basis for PtdInsP2-mediated human TRPML1 regulation

Fine M, Schmiege P, Li X Nat Commun 2018 Oct 9 1 4192

Two Patched molecules engage distinct sites on Hedgehog yielding a signaling-competent complex.

Qi X, Schmiege P, Coutavas E, Li X Science 2018 Aug

Structures of human Patched and its complex with native palmitoylated sonic hedgehog.

Qi X, Schmiege P, Coutavas E, Wang J, Li X Nature 2018 Jul

Human TRPML1 channel structures in open and closed conformations.

Schmiege P, Fine M, Blobel G, Li X Nature 2017 Oct 550 7676 366-370

Structure of human Niemann-Pick C1 protein.

Li X, Wang J, Coutavas E, Shi H, Hao Q, Blobel G Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016 Jun

Structure of an integral membrane sterol reductase from Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum.

Li X, Roberti R, Blobel G Nature 2014 Oct

The regulatory mechanism of mammalian TRPMLs revealed by cryo-EM.

Schmiege P, Fine M, Li X FEBS J. 2018 Mar

3.3 Å structure of Niemann-Pick C1 protein reveals insights into the function of the C-terminal luminal domain in cholesterol transport.

Li X, Lu F, Trinh MN, Schmiege P, Seemann J, Wang J, Blobel G Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2017 Aug 114 34 9116-9121

Triazoles inhibit cholesterol export from lysosomes by binding to NPC1.

Trinh MN, Lu F, Li X, Das A, Liang Q, De Brabander JK, Brown MS, Goldstein JL Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016 Dec

Clues to the mechanism of cholesterol transfer from the structure of NPC1 middle lumenal domain bound to NPC2.

Li X, Saha P, Li J, Blobel G, Pfeffer SR Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016 Aug

• 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
  (2013-2013)

• Department of Molecular Genetics, UT Southwestern Medical Center (2017)
• Laboratory of Cell Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY (2012-2017)
• School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (2008-2012)
• Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (2004-2008)