Email

hongjie.li@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Huffington Center on Aging

Assistant Professor

Department of Molecular and Human Genetics

Member

Baylor College of Medicine
Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center

Graduate Program Faculty

Genetics & Genomics, DDMT, Neuroscience, Quantitative and Computational Biosciences (QCB)

Addresses

Alkek N910 (Lab)

1 Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030
United States

Education

Postdoctoral Training at Stanford University

12/2020 - Stanford (Liqun Luo lab), California United States

PhD from University of Rochester & Buck Institute for Research on Aging

03/2016 - Rochester (Henri Jasper lab), United States

Professional Statement

Technology development of multi-omics: We have developed the first single-cell RNA sequencing platform in Drosophila neurons and glia for studying neural development (Li et al., 2017 Cell; Li et al 2020 Current Biology). Recently, we developed a single-nucleus RNA-seq method in flies (McLaughlin, …, Li, 2021 eLife) and applied it to the Fly Cell Atlas (FCA) project, a large collaborative project aiming to get the transcriptomic map of the entire fly. We will continue developing and applying multi-omics technologies (transcriptomics, epigenomics and proteomics), and combine them with powerful fly genetic tools to study development, aging and diseases.

Anti-brain aging to increase healthy lifespan: Our long-term goal is to identify molecular and cellular mechanisms that contribute to brain aging, including glia-neuron interactions, systemic inflammatory signals and gut-brain interactions. We will apply single-cell sequencing and cell surface proteomics (J. Li, Han, H. Li, 2020 Cell) to study glia-neuron interactions and inter-organ communications to understand brain aging. We will employ single-bacterium genomics to explore gut microbiota changes during aging and study how they contribute to brain aging.

Limiting age-triggered tumor initiation and growth: Age is the biggest risk factor for many types of cancers, including breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers (H. Li and Jasper, 2016). A central goal of this project is to discover how aging triggers tumor onset in the regenerating intestine. We will use fly intestine as a discovery model to generate hypotheses that we will then test in mouse cancer models and human colon cancers, aiming to develop effective strategies for limiting age-related tumor initiation and growth.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Li H, Horns F, Wu B, Xie Q, Li J, Li T, Luginbuhl DJ, Quake SR, Luo L "Classifying Drosophila Olfactory Projection Neuron Subtypes by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing." Cell. 2017;
• Cai, X., Li, H., Borch Jensen, M., Maksoud, E., Borneo, J., Liang, Y., Quake S., Luo, L., Pejmun, P., and Jasper, H. "Gut cytokines modulate olfaction through metabolic reprogramming of glia." Nature. 2021;
• Li, J., Han, S., Li, H., Udeshi, N.D., Svinkina, T., Mani, D.R., Xu, C., Guajardo, R., Xie, Q., Li, T., Luginbuhl, D.J., Wu, B., McLaughlin, C.N., Xie, A., Kaewsapsak, P., Quake S.R., Carr, S.A., Ting, A.Y., Luo, L. "Cell-Surface Proteomic Profiling in the Fly Brain Uncovers Wiring Regulators." Cell. 2020;
• H Li, J Janssens, M Waegeneer, S Kolluru, K Davie, V Gardeux, W Saelens, F David, M Brbić, K Spanier, J Leskovec, C McLaughlin, Q Xie, ... , FCA Consortium, H Jasper, B Oliver, N Perrimon#, B Deplancke, S Quake, L Luo, S Aerts "Fly Cell Atlas: a single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult fruit fly." Science. 2022 Mar;

Funding

Longevity Research Grant

Impetus Grants

Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas

CPRIT

R00 - Pathway to Independence Award

NIH

Ted Nash Long Life Foundation

Ted Nash Foundation