Liming Li
Northwestern University, IL·Genetics
Some traits are inherited not through DNA but through protein shape. Prions are proteins that can fold into a self-copying form, and in budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) they act as inheritable genetic elements.
- Fields
Genetics
Biochemistry
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
yeast prions
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
budding yeast
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Identify prion-specific changes in gene expression and cell-to-cell variation in yeast carrying [SWI+], [MOT3+] or both, using high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing.
- Map where transcription regulators and epigenetic marks linked to [SWI+] and [MOT3+] bind across the yeast genome, using CUT&RUN sequencing.
- Measure prion-specific changes in protein levels and post-translational modifications, chemical changes added to proteins after they are made, using multiplex-labeling proteomics.
More about the research
One yeast cell can carry several prions at once. That raises a basic question: how do prions interact, and how do those interactions change the cell? Simple and easy to manipulate, yeast is a strong model for answering this.
Why it matters
This is basic science. It adds an understanding of how inheritable protein states interact inside a cell and reshape its gene activity and protein balance. That knowledge could eventually inform the study of protein-based inheritance and protein misfolding more broadly.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jaime Lopez-Mosqueda
University of Texas at Austin, TX·Biochemistry·Early-career
Test for a unifying molecular mark that flags DNA-protein crosslinks for destruction, regardless of the size or chemical nature of the trapped protein, using biochemical and molecular biology approaches.
Kerry Geiler-Samerotte
Arizona State University Campus Immersion, AZ·Ecology & Evolution·Early-career
Evolve thousands of DNA-barcoded yeast lineages across subtly different temperatures to measure how the genetic basis of adaptation and the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) shift along the gradient.
Yanming Li
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Genetics
Identify the aortic cell types in which TAAD-associated SNPs act, by integrating GWAS results with single-cell ATAC-seq maps of accessible chromatin from human aortic tissue.
The school
Northwestern University: 71 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 536 research doctorates a year.
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