Mei Li, MD, PhD

Research Interests

I am Mei Li, a gene delivery specialist for the Vision Science Core, Gene Delivery Module under Dr. Xiaohua Gong, Dr. John Flannery, and Vision Science Core P.I., Dr. Richard Kramer’s supervisions. I received an MD in China and PhD in Japan in neurology and neuroscience.

After extensive training as a postdoc in Japan and the U.S., I obtained a grant and became an Assistant Researcher followed by Specialist in Neuroscience at the Dept. of Neurology at UCSF and Washington University in St. Louis. I have over 40 publications as the first author or co-author. Since 2010, I obtained my current position in the UC Berkeley Vision Science Core, Gene Delivery Module. Here I have completed hundreds of extensively purified preparations of uniquely designed Adeno-Associate Viral Vectors (AAV) with high titers and high transduction efficiency in vivo, with 2-3 preparations taking 3-4 weeks to complete. I have also established our Gene Delivery Module’s unique libraries of AAV serotypes, backbones, promoters, fluorescent reporters, etc.

I also designed and help cloned hundreds of bio-molecular constructs and several transgenic and knock out mouse models including AAV-CRISPR editing models and Cre-lox based conditional models for our Vision Science Labs, resulting in hundreds of publications in top ranked journals, such as Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, Scientific Reports and others. In these publications I was a coauthor or acknowledged. I also helped draft NIH core grant applications and annual reports, biological use authorizations (BUA), etc. for the Gene Delivery Module under my supervisors’ guidance. I enjoy my current position working with colleagues and helping their projects in any respects, especially in Adeno-Associate Virus (AAV) production and purification, molecular and cell biology, molecular design and cloning, transgenic and knock out models, and a variety of experimental trouble shootings. If you have any questions regarding your projects, feel free to discuss with me. I whole-heartedly wish to help students and postdocs for their career as well as the success of faculty and other researchers.

Publications

ResearchGate