Rong LI
Professor, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
mbihead@nus.edu.sg
10-03C
Level 10 T-Lab
National University of Singapore
5A Engineering Drive 1
Singapore 117411
Laboratory website
Rong Li Lab: Cell Dynamics and Mechanics in Development, Aging and Adaptation
Rong Li Lab (Johns Hopkins): Cellular asymmetry, division & evolution
MBI Director Rong Li elected as ASCB Fellow
Congratulations to MBI Director Prof. Rong Li on her election as a Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology.
Understanding the effects of aneuploidy
A review from Prof Rong Li and Dr. Jin Zhu outlines the the causes of aneuploidy and how it can affect cell behaviour and function. Learn more
MBI PIs win MOE AcRF Tier 3 grant to study endomembrane aging
A research team led by Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) Principal Investigators Assoc. Prof. Tony Kanchanawong and Prof. Rong Li was recently awarded a Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (MOE AcRF) Tier 3 grant.
Preventing mistakes in chromosomal segregation
A recent study from the Li Lab at the Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore and Johns Hopkins University, USA has revealed new aspects on the involvement of p53 protein in preventing mistakes in chromosomal segregation. Learn more
MBI Director honoured with ASCB Senior Leadership Award
MBI Director Prof. Li Rong has been awarded the 2019 Sandra K. Masur Senior Leadership Award from the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB). This award recognizes cell biology researchers whose “outstanding scientific achievements are coupled with a record of active leadership in mentoring both men and women in scientific careers.”
Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, has a new director
MBI welcomes Professor Li Rong, as MBI's new director. Professor Li joins us from Johns Hopkins University, where she has been a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the School of Medicine and the Whiting School of Engineering since 2015. Professor Li is also the director of the Center for Cell Dynamics at the School of Medicine’s Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences.
Rong Li
Director and Distinguished Professor
Research Areas
Cellular dynamics and mechanics, cell and tissue aging and regeneration, chromosomal biology in cellular adaptation
Research Interests
The diverse projects in Professor Rong Li’s lab contribute to two main research thrusts: cell and tissue aging; cellular and organismal adaptation. The study on aging focuses on understanding dynamic changes of crucial cellular components during the aging process and how these changes alter the mechanical functions of cells and tissues. The insights gained will be applied to the development of new methods for prolonging healthy aging and the repair and regeneration of deteriorated functions. The study of adaptation aims to understand the dynamics of genetic and epigenetic determinants of cells and tissues under acute or chronic stress which lead to adaptive behaviors ultimately beneficial or detrimental to the fitness of the organism. A potential application of the discoveries in this area is the prevention of cancer associated with chronic inflammatory diseases.
Biography
Professor Rong Li came from Johns Hopkins University where she served as the Director of the Center for Cell Dynamics in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has had over 25 years of independent research on cellular dynamics and mechanics employing interdisciplinary approaches. She was recruited to NUS in 2019 as the second Director of MBI succeeding Professor Michael Sheetz.
Education
Combined BS and MS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 1988
PhD in Biophysics and Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, 1992
Recent Publications
- Liu S, Meng Y, Lan X, Li R, and Kanchanawong P. Ground-state pluripotent stem cells are characterized by Rac1-dependent Cadherin-enriched F-actin Complexes. J Cell Sci 2025;. [PMID: 39886806]
- Li Y, Ong HT, Cui H, Gao X, Lee JWN, Guo Y, Li R, Pennacchio FA, Maiuri P, Efremov AK, and Holle AW. Confinement-sensitive volume regulation dynamics via high-speed nuclear morphological measurements. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121(52):e2408595121. [PMID: 39700138]
- Lu Y, Walji T, Ravaux B, Pandey P, Yang C, Li B, Luvsanjav D, Lam KH, Zhang R, Luo Z, Zhou C, Habela CW, Snapper SB, Li R, Goldhamer DJ, Schmidtke DW, Pan D, Svitkina TM, and Chen EH. Spatiotemporal coordination of actin regulators generates invasive protrusions in cell-cell fusion. Nat Cell Biol 2024;. [PMID: 39487253]
- Wu H, Wang LC, Sow BM, Leow D, Zhu J, Gallo KM, Wilsbach K, Gupta R, Ostrow LW, Yeo CJJ, Sobota RM, and Li R. TDP43 aggregation at ER-exit sites impairs ER-to-Golgi transport. Nat Commun 2024; 15(1):9026. [PMID: 39424779]
- Lu Y, Walji T, Pandey P, Zhou C, Habela CW, Snapper SB, Li R, and Chen EH. Branched actin polymerization drives invasive protrusion formation to promote myoblast fusion during skeletal muscle regeneration. bioRxiv 2024;. [PMID: 39416162]
- Wang H, Huang Z, Shen X, Lee Y, Song X, Shu C, Wu LH, Pakkiri LS, Lim PL, Zhang X, Drum CL, Zhu J, and Li R. Rejuvenation of aged oocyte through exposure to young follicular microenvironment. Nat Aging 2024;. [PMID: 39251866]
- Johnson BA, Liu AZ, Bi T, Dong Y, Li T, Zhou D, Narkar A, Wu Y, Sun SX, Larman TC, Zhu J, and Li R. Simple aneuploidy evades p53 surveillance and promotes niche factor-independent growth in human intestinal organoids. Mol Biol Cell 2024;:mbcE24040166. [PMID: 38985518]
- Zhang X, Ruan L, Wang H, Zhu J, Li T, Sun G, Dong Y, Wang Y, Berreby G, Shay A, Chen R, Ramachandran S, Dawson VL, Dawson TM, and Li R. Enhancing mitochondrial proteolysis alleviates alpha-synuclein-mediated cellular toxicity. NPJ Parkinsons Dis 2024; 10(1):120. [PMID: 38906862]
- Wang Y, Ruan L, Zhu J, Zhang X, Chang AC, Tomaszewski A, and Li R. Metabolic regulation of misfolded protein import into mitochondria. Elife 2024; 12. [PMID: 38900507]
- Ai Y, Guo C, Garcia-Contreras M, Sánchez B LS, Saftics A, Shodubi O, Raghunandan S, Xu J, Tsai SJ, Dong Y, Li R, Jovanovic-Talisman T, and Gould SJ. Endocytosis blocks the vesicular secretion of exosome marker proteins. Sci Adv 2024; 10(19):eadi9156. [PMID: 38718108]
Lab Members
Felix Uecker
Research Fellow, Li Group
Yao Ye
Research Fellow, Li Group
Hannah Fung
Research Fellow, Li Group
Goh Jia Lin Kellisa
PhD Student, Class of August 2024, Li Group
Cao Gefei
PhD Student, Class of August 2024, Hirashima Group, Li Group
Ivo Johannes Hendrikus Marie de Vos
Research Fellow, Li Group
Xiaohong Yao
Research Fellow, Li Group
Sujana Andra
Research Assistant, Li Group
Li Keming
PhD Student, Class of August 2022, Li Group
Lan Xi
PhD Student, Class of August 2022, Li Group
Stefan Mueller
Research Fellow, Li Group
Cui Hongyue
PhD Student, Class of August 2021, Li Group
Shu Chang
PhD Student, Class of August 2021, Li Group
Seah Kwi Shan
Research Fellow, Li Group
Shen Xingyu
PhD Student, Class of January 2021, Li Group, Young Group
Alokendra Ghosh
Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Li Group
Wang Haiyang
Senior Research Fellow, Li Group
Wong Bin Sheng
Research Fellow, Li Group
