Principal Investigator
Ming Li
Dr. Li grew up in Jingdezhen, a beautiful city in China known as the “Porcelain Capital.” As the first member of his family to go to college, Dr. Li was very fortunate to have the opportunity of completing his B.S. from Fudan University (Shanghai, China) and Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (mentor: Dr. Danny Schnell). He then completed two rounds of postdoctoral training with Drs. Magdalena Bezanilla (Umass-Amherst) and Scott Emr (Cornell University) before coming to Ann Arbor.
Dr. Li is fascinated by organelles inside the cell. As a graduate student, he studied the mechanisms of chloroplast biogenesis and discovered a “post-import” pathway for chloroplast inner membrane proteins insertion into the lipid bilayer. As a postdoc in Scott Emr’s lab, Dr. Li studied the lysosome using budding yeast as a model organism. Dr. Li's current research interests include the molecular mechanisms of lysosomal membrane quality control and lysosome biogenesis.
In his spare time, Dr. Li enjoys spending time with his family.
Postdocs
Danielle Henn (11/22-present)
Danielle received her BSc degree in Biochemistry from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and later went on to do her PhD in Veterinary Science (supervisor: Prof C.J. Botha), studying the cytotoxic effects of carboxylic ionophores on cardiac and skeletal myoblasts in vitro. During her PhD she also worked at the Electron microscopy laboratory at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Pretoria, detecting viral infections and ultrastructural pathology of animal tissues. Outside of the lab, Danielle enjoys reading and watching series.
Xiaoting Dong (06/23-present)
Xiaoting Dong received her B.S. degree from the Hubei University of Chinese Medicine (China), a Master's degree from Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (China), and a Ph.D. degree from the South China University of Technology (mentor: Dr. Jianhua Wu). As a Ph.D. student, her job was to use the biophysics method to find the reason behind APL DS. Outside the lab, Xiaoting spends most of her time reading and exercising.
Graduate Students
Varsha Venkatarangan (05/2018-present)
Ph.D. student, MCDB retreat best talk prize(2022) winner, MCDB teaching award (2022) winner. Varsha is from the district of Tirunelveli, India. Her research is currently focused on understanding the pathogenesis of the lysosomal storage disease, Cystinosis - in light of protein quality control. Apart from doing science, Varsha really enjoys working out in the gym and creating and sharing memes on social media.
Liang Chen (04/2020-present)
Ph.D. student, MCDB retreat best poster prize(2022) winner. Liang received his B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from Zhejiang University. He is working on the membrane protein quality control system in human lysosomes and its roles in cellular signaling pathways. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing table tennis and hiking.
Rotation Students
Lizi Yang (08/23-Present)
Lizi Yang is a first-year PhD student at MCDB interested in disease-related research. She graduated from ShanghaiTech University with a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences and worked in Dr. Huanhu Zhu’s lab as an undergraduate and conducted research on nutritional metabolism. She is a rotation student in Dr. Ming Li’s lab, learning new techniques and exploring new topics. She enjoys cooking and trying new recipes in her spare time, although she admits that her skills need some improvement.
Haikun Zhao(10/23-present)
Haikun is currently a first-year PhD student at MCDB. He received his dual bachelor's degree from Beijing Forestry University in China and the University of British Columbia in Canada. He is exploring his research interest in the lab while working on different cell lines, which he hasn't tried as an undergraduate, and getting in touch with cell biology expertise and methodology. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, video games, and music.
Undergraduate Students
Aleksander Wielenga (05/2022-present)
Aleks was born and grew up in Jackson, MI. He is a Biochemistry major in the class of 2025 and plans on going on to graduate school. He joined the lab in 2022 and in his free time he enjoys playing guitar, designing visual effects, and reading.
Emma Kim (11/2022-present)
Emma grew up in Rochester Hills, Michigan. She joined the lab as a freshman in 2022 to expand her knowledge of cell biology. She intends to major in BHS or MCDB and continue her education in medical school once she graduates. Outside of school, she enjoys running, reading, and baking.
Michael Lee (08/2023-PRESENT)
Michael is currently a senior at the School of Gifted Young, University of Science and Technology of China. He joined the lab as a visiting student. Michael is totally obsessed with the fascinating world of cells, believing they're much more complex than any machines we've ever built! He's super eager to explore this mysterious field. He also loves digging into European history books and expressing his creativity through drawing during his free time.
UROP Students
Past Members
Aaron Hamlin (10/2016-04/2020)
Aaron joined the lab in 2016 as a UROP student. He graduated in 2020 with high honors. Aaron is the second author of a Journal of Cell Biology paper. He is now attending graduate school at Princeton University.
Felichi Mae Arines (04/2017-08/2022)
Ph.D. student, currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Broad Institute. Recipient of the MCDB teaching award, best talk prize, and best poster prize at the MCDB retreat, Barbour Scholarship.
Xi Yang (04/2017-08/2023)
Currently an assistant professor at the University of Denver. Winner of MCDB Best Poster (2018), Best Talk Prizes (2022), MCDB Postdoctoral Research Award (2021), ASBMB Travel Award (2022).
Xi received his B.S. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China) and a Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (mentor: Dr. Yuke He ). He then continued to work in his Ph.D. lab for two years. As a graduate student, he studied the mechanisms of miRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis. In his free time, he enjoys reading novels and watching sports matches on TV.
Weichao Zhang (05/2017-03/2022)
Ph.D. student, 2022 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award recipient from the University of Michigan. Currently a research scientist at the pharmaceutical company GSK. Weichao single-handedly started our mammalian lysosome research and published three first-author research papers.
Dominic Chomchai (03/2018-04/2020)
Dom joined the lab in 2018 as a volunteer. He graduated in April 2020 with high honors. Dom has two papers from our lab. He is attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Lucas Reist
Lucas joined the lab in 2017 as a UROP student. He graduated in April 2021 with the Highest Honor in Biochemistry major. He is a second author of a JCB publication. Lucas is now attending graduate school at MSU.
Patrick Bulinski
Ever O’Donnell
Work-study and then UROP student from 10/2020-01/2022.
Bokai Zhang (04/2021-04/2023)
Bokai graduated with high honors. He is the recipient of the MCDB Director's Award. He will attend the Ph.D. program at Rockefeller University. He grew up in Beijing and attended high school in Omaha, Nebraska. He is a MCDB major and an RC student in the class of 2023, and intends to study cell biology in graduate school. Outside of academics, he enjoys drawing digital illustrations ranging from scientific schematics to cartoon characters, and is the author of the official mascot of the UM Center for Japanese Studies. He also likes watching documentaries about nature and medicine.
Linchen Yu
Linchen was an undergraduate research assistant. He graduated in 2022 with high honors in Biochemistry and is currently working at Addgene, Boston. He is a co-author of our Nature Communications paper.
Julianna Cresti
Rotation student in 2022, currently in the Simmons lab.
Seth Palmer (10/2021-04/2023)
Seth was born in Canandaigua, New York, and attended Oxford High School in Michigan. He joined the lab in 2021 as a UROP student. A prospective biomedical engineer, he plans on going to medical school after college. In his free time, Seth enjoys reading, writing, playing the cello, and running.
Yan Zhu
Rotation Student
Yan received my B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from Fudan University, China. He was the first-ever rotation student (fall of 2016) in Ming Li's lab. Currently, PhD student at the Schiefelbein lab
YingYing Zhao (09/22-08/23)
Visiting Scholar
Visiting Scholar from Shenzhen University, China. We study circadian regulation of liver metabolism in the context of aging and neurodegeneration using mouse models.
Aditi Kappagandu
Undergraduate Work Study
Aditi joined the lab in 2016 as a work-study student and graduated in April 2019. She is attending Medical School at Wayne State.
Francisco Narro Garcia (10/2019-04/2023)
Francisco graduated with high honors—currently an MD student at Washington University in St. Louis. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and attended high school in Houston, Texas. He joined the lab as a Freshman through UROP and has continued his involvement since. He is a biochemistry major and intends to attend medical school in the future. In his free time, he enjoys running, swimming, and weightlifting.
Grace Chu-Yuan Chu
Grace joined the lab in 2016 as a work-study student and graduated in April 2019. She is attending Medical School at Wayne State.
Yunzhi Lin (02/2023-05/2023) Rotation student
Yunzhi grew up in Shanghai and received her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from Fudan University, China. Before grad school, she spent a year working as a research assistant with Dr. Yulong Li at Peking University. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading and dancing to hip-hop and choreography.
Yun-Yu Liu (10/2016-04/2020)
Yun-Yu joined the lab in 2016 as a UROP student. She graduated in April 2020 with high honors. Yun-Yu is a co-author of two papers from the Ming Li lab. She is now attending the MD program at Albert Einstein School of Medicine.