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Dong LI Ph.D.

Xinghua Chair Professor of Tsinghua University

2002-2006, B.E., Department of Optical Engineering, Zhejiang University

2006-2011, Ph.D., Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

2011-2015, Postdoctoral Associate, Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

2015-2024, Principal Investigator, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Science

2024- , Professor, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University

Research interest

We focus on developing novel optical imaging methods, which enable us to measure and study the biological processes with unprecedented precision, such as structures and dynamics of molecular assemblies in living biological systems, interactions between molecules, and behavior of individual molecules, etc. We are greatly enjoying working at the interface of several disciplines, where light, algorithm and biology catalyze each other.

Selected publications

1. Liu J, Dong X, Lu H, Liu T, Liu W, Hu X, Meng Q, Jiang A, Jiang T, Geng X, Liu H, Cheng J, Lam E.Y, Liu Y*, Tan S*, Li D*. Bio-friendly and high-precision super-resolution imaging through self-supervised reconstruction structured illumination microscopy. Nature Methods, 2025 Accepted.

2. Qiao C, Li Z, Wang Z, Lin Y, Liu C, Zhang S, Liu Y, Feng Y, Yang X, Fu W, Dong X, Guo J, Xu W, Wang X, Jiang T, Meng Q, Wang Q, Dai Q*, Li D*. Fast-adaptive super-resolution lattice light-sheet microscopy for rapid, long-term, near-isotropic subcellular imaging. Nature Methods, 2025 May;22(5):1059-1069.

3. Wang X, Jiang A, Meng Q, Jiang T, Lu H, Geng X, Song Z, Hu X, Yu Z, Xu W, Ning C, Lin Y, Li D*. Aberrant phase separation drives membranous organelle remodeling and tumorigenesis. Molecular Cell, 2025 May 1;85(9):1852-1867.

4. Qiao C, Liu S, Wang Y, Xu W, Geng X, Jiang T, Zhang J, Meng Q, Qiao H, Li D*, Dai Q*. A neural network for long-term super-resolution imaging of live cells with reliable confidence quantification. Nature Biotechnology, 2025 Jan 29.

5. Qiao C^#, Li D^#, Liu Y^#, Zhang S^#, Liu K, Liu C, Guo Y, Jiang T, Fang C, Li N, Zeng Y, He K, Zhu X, Lippincott-Schwartz J*, Dai Q*, Li D*. Rationalized deep learning super-resolution microscopy for sustained live imaging of rapid subcellular processes. Nature Biotechnology, 2023 Mar; 41(3):367-377. Cover article.

6. Gong B^#, Guo Y^#, Ding S, Liu X, Meng A, Li D*, Jia S*, A Golgi-derived vesicle potentiates PtdIns4P to PtdIns3P conversion for endosome fission. Nature Cell Biology, 2021 Jul; 23(7):782-795.

7. Xu G^#, Liu C^#, Zhou S^#, Li Q, Feng Y, Sun P, Feng H, Gao Y, Zhu J, Luo X, Zhan Q, Liu S, Zhu S, Deng H*, Li D*, Gao P*. Viral tegument proteins restrict cGAS-DNA phase separation to mediate immune evasion. Molecular Cell, 2021 Jul 1;81(13):2823-2837.

8. Qiao C^#, Chen X^#, Zhang S^#, Li D, Guo Y, Dai Q*, Li D*. 3D Structured Illumination Microscopy via Channel Attention Generative Adversarial Network. IEEE J SEL TOP QUANT. 2021 Feb 22;27(4):1-11.

9. Qiao C^#, Li D^#, Guo Y^#, Liu C^#, Jiang T, Dai Q*, Li D*. Evaluation and development of deep neural networks for image super-resolution in optical microscopy. Nature Methods, 2021 Feb;18(2):194-202.

10. Wang X^#*, Liu C^#, Zhang S^#, Yan H, Zhang L, Jiang A, Liu Y, Feng Y, Li D, Guo Y, Hu X, Lin Y, Bu P, Li D*. N6-methyladenosine modification of MALAT1 promotes metastasis via reshaping nuclear speckles. Developmental Cell, 2021 Mar 8;56(5):702-715.

11. Guo Y^#, Li D^#, Zhang S, Yang Y, Liu JJ, Wang X, Liu C, Milkie DE, Moore RP, Tulu US, Kiehart DP, Hu J, Lippincott-Schwartz J*, Betzig E*, Li D*.Visualizing intracellular organelle and cytoskeletal interactions at nanoscale resolution on millisecond timescales. Cell, 2018 Nov 15;175(5):1430-1442.

12. Li D, Shao L, Chen BC, Zhang X, Zhang M, Moses B, Milkie DE, Beach JR, Hammer JA, Pasham M, Kirchhausen T, Baird MA, Davidson MW, Xu P, Betzig E*. Extended-resolution structured illumination imaging of endocytic and cytoskeletal dynamics. Science, 2015 Aug 28;349(6251): aab3500. Cover article.

Awards

2021, Distinguished Young Scientist award, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2020, Outstanding Mentor award, Chinese Academy of Sciences

2019, XPLORER prize, Tencent Foundation

2019, VCANBIO award for innovations and breakthroughs in life sciences and medicine

2015, PicoQuant Young Investigator Award, SPIE

2011, Winner of Young Scientist Award, Hong Kong Institute of Science

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