Lingyin Li

Lingyin Li
Born	1981 (age 42–43) Xi'an
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Science and Technology of China
Scientific career
Institutions	Stanford University
Thesis	Synthetic surfaces to control cell fate (2010)

Lingyin Li (born 1981) is a Chinese American chemical biologist who is an associate professor of biochemistry at Stanford University. Her research studies the chemical biology of innate immunity to design better therapeutics. She was named one of Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12 in 2020.

Early life and education

Li was born in Xi'an. She was awarded a position on the competitive University of Science and Technology of China undergraduate program. She was a doctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she worked with Laura L. Kiessling. She moved to Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral researcher. At Harvard, she studied why the drug Vadimezan (DMXAA) had worked in mice but not in humans. DMXAA is proposed to activate the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway, which is part of the human innate immunity pathway. STING responds to inflammation and activates inflammatory proteins that trigger the adaptive immune system. The combination of the innate and adaptive immune system eliminates pathogens and is predicted to fight cancer. Li demonstrated that DMXAA binds mouse but not human STING. Li worked on cGAMP, a signalling molecule that activates STING that is broken apart by an extracellular protein.

Research and career

Li uses chemical biology to understand the mechanisms that underpin immunity, which she will use to develop new therapeutic pathways and targets. The activation of immunity can provide new therapeutic strategies for vaccines, cancer and viral infection. So far, modulators of innate immunity are broad-spectrum and poorly described, which results in imprecise drugs that cannot target specific disease.

In 2015, Li set up her own lab at Stanford University where she studies the relationship between cGAMP and STING. She has shown that a transporter pulls cGAMP away from cancer cells, after which it is broken down by the enzyme ENPP1.

In 2023, Li joined the editorial board of Chemical Biology.

Awards and honors

• 2017 National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award
• 2020 C&EN's Talented Twelve
• 2022 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry

Selected publications

• Lingyin Li; Qian Yin; Pia Kuss; Zoltan Maliga; José L Millán; Hao Wu; Timothy J Mitchison (26 October 2014). "Hydrolysis of 2'3'-cGAMP by ENPP1 and design of nonhydrolyzable analogs". Nature Chemical Biology. 10 (12): 1043–1048. doi:10.1038/NCHEMBIO.1661. ISSN 1552-4450. PMC 4232468. PMID 25344812. Wikidata Q34514089. (erratum)
• Sabrina L Ergun; Daniel Fernandez; Thomas M Weiss; Lingyin Li (20 June 2019). "STING Polymer Structure Reveals Mechanisms for Activation, Hyperactivation, and Inhibition". Cell. 178 (2): 290-301.e10. doi:10.1016/J.CELL.2019.05.036. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 31230712. Wikidata Q92967166.
• Joseph R Klim; Lingyin Li; Paul J Wrighton; Marian S Piekarczyk; Laura L Kiessling (December 2010). "A defined glycosaminoglycan-binding substratum for human pluripotent stem cells". Nature Methods. 7 (12): 989–94. doi:10.1038/NMETH.1532. ISSN 1548-7091. PMC 2994976. PMID 21076418. Wikidata Q24632970.