Gene-Wei Li, Ph.D.

- Title
- Helen Sizer Career Development Assistant Professor
- Department
- Biology
- Institution
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Address
-
31 Ames Street
Room 68-223a - City, State, ZIP
- Cambridge, MA 02142
- Phone
- (617) 324-6703
- [email protected]
- Website
- http://qbio.scripts.mit.edu/group
- Research field
- Cell Biology
- Award year
- 2017
Research
We are investigating whether cells produce the “optimum” amount of each protein they need. Even single-celled bacteria are capable of synthesizing more than 1,000 different proteins. But how do they “decide” how much of each protein to produce? In my laboratory, we have developed a technique for measuring the precise production rates of every protein in a cell. Combining this approach with other techniques in cell, molecular, and computational biology, we will compare a broad range of organisms across evolutionary distances to determine whether all of their proteins are maintained at some preferred level. Further, by artificially perturbing the quantities of selected proteins, we will explore the mechanisms cells use to re-establish the proper protein balance—systems whose misregulation underlies a variety of human diseases.
Scholar Keywords
2017 Search Pew Scholars
- Mohamed S. Abou Donia, Ph.D.
- José L. Avalos, Ph.D.
- Eiman Azim, Ph.D.
- Erhu Cao, Ph.D.
- Ibrahim Cissé, Ph.D.
- Michael A. Crickmore, Ph.D.
- Rachel J. Dutton, Ph.D.
- Michael M. Halassa, M.D., Ph.D.
- Jorge Henao-Mejia, M.D., Ph.D.
- Ya-Chieh Hsu, Ph.D.
- Gene-Wei Li, Ph.D.
- Anna Victoria R. Molofsky, M.D., Ph.D.
- Shaeri Mukherjee, Ph.D.
- Alan C. Mullen, M.D., Ph.D.
- Carolyn M. Phillips, Ph.D.
- Kaoru Saijo, M.D., Ph.D.
- Robert Spitale, Ph.D.
- David J. Veesler, Ph.D.
- Elizabeth Villa, Ph.D.
- Bin Wu, Ph.D.
- Naoki Yamanaka, Ph.D.
- Nilay Yapici, Ph.D.