Yan Li

Yan Li, PhD is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She leads a multidisciplinary research program focused on diabetes and islet biology using cutting-edge genomic technologies.

• Education: PhD in Epigenetics and Diabetes Research from Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope
• Postdoctoral Training: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, UCSD

Research Interests: Dr. Li investigates cellular heterogeneity in non-proliferating tissues like pancreatic beta cells using single-cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, Hi-C, and CRISPR. Her lab also explores human pluripotent stem cell differentiation for diabetes therapy and develops low-input genomic methods for stem cell systems.

• Single-cell genomics
• Epigenetic regulation in diabetes
• Non-coding cis-regulatory elements
• 3D genome architecture
• Stem cell-based therapies

Labs & Teams: The Li Lab integrates functional genomics and stem cell technologies to address challenges in diabetes research. Current projects focus on molecular mechanisms of cellular heterogeneity and improving stem cell differentiation protocols for beta-cell generation.