Wanqiu Li

Wanqiu Li is an Assistant Professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Pharmacology at the School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). She specializes in structural biology with a focus on cryo-electron microscopy to investigate disease-related protein complexes and epigenetic regulation mechanisms.

Education:

• B.Sc. in Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University (2008-2012)
• Ph.D. in Biophysics & Structural Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University (2012-2017)

Dr. Li's research focuses on understanding molecular mechanisms of chromatin regulation and disease-related protein complexes using cryo-EM combined with biochemical, molecular, and cellular approaches. Her work particularly emphasizes epigenetic regulation through histone methylation processes, NSD family proteins, and nucleosome-level gene regulation. Her structural insights provide foundations for developing therapeutic interventions for related diseases. The laboratory actively investigates molecular mechanisms related to epigenetic regulation using state-of-the-art cryo-EM technology.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent high-impact contributions to structural biology, with multiple papers in Nature, Cell Discovery, and PNAS. The research spans from fundamental structural insights into Piezo1 channels and MCM complexes to more recent work on epigenetic regulation mechanisms involving histone methylation. A notable trend shows increasing focus on nucleosome-level epigenetic regulation in her most recent publications, particularly in H3K36 and H4K20 methylation pathways.

Scientific Awards:

• 2023 Shenzhen Youth Science and Technology Award
• Shenzhen National Leading Talent for High-Level Talents
• 2022 Shenzhen Excellent Youth
• 2023 Guangdong Province Young Talents
• SUSTech President's Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow (2017)

Dr. Li serves as a doctoral supervisor and has secured competitive research funding including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shenzhen Excellent Young Scientists program, and Shenzhen Higher Education Stable Support Program. Her laboratory actively recruits PhD students and research staff to advance structural investigations of disease-related molecular mechanisms. She has led projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shenzhen Higher Education Stable Support Program.

Her research is conducted through the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Center at SUSTech, leveraging state-of-the-art instrumentation for high-resolution structural analysis of macromolecular complexes. The lab maintains collaborations with international institutions including Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Australia, where she previously served as an Honorary Visiting Scientist. Her work bridges structural biology with disease mechanisms to provide new insights for drug development.