Positions
- Assistant Professor
-
Neuroscience
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US
Addresses
- BCM-Smith Medical Research Bldg (Lab)
-
Room: BCMS-S607
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Education
- PhD from Nanjing Agricultural University
- 12/2006 - Nanjing, China
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- 03/2009 - Shanghai, China
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at Vanderbilt University
- 07/2014 - Nashville, TN
Professional Interests
- Chronic pain, chronic pain-induced depression, and opioid analgesic tolerance
Professional Statement
Chronic pain is a major health problem in the United States and affects 100 million Americans, but the current treatments are inadequate and there has been limited progress in the development of novel therapies for this condition, which result in the epidemic of opioid abuse. Our goal is to discover the novel plasticity mechanisms that underlie chronic pain, chronic pain associated comorbidities such as depression, and opioid-induced analgesic tolerance and hyperalgesia. We are also devoted to translational pain research to discover and develop novel therapeutic strategies for chronic pain management. To resolve the chronic pain, depression, and opioid mechanisms comprehensively, at the genetic, molecular, cellular, neural circuit, and behavioral levels, we use a multidisciplinary approach spanning high throughput sequencing, bioinformatics, mice genetics, opto-/chemo-genetics, electrophysiology, in vivo calcium imaging, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, virus-mediated gene transfer, neuroanatomical imaging, and behavioral testing.Selected Publications
- Li L, Chen SR, Chen H, Wen L, Hittelman WN, Xie JD, Pan HL "Chloride Homeostasis Critically Regulates Synaptic NMDA Receptor Activity in Neuropathic Pain." Cell Rep. 2016 May ; 15(7) : 1376-1383.
- Li L, Homan KT, Vishnivetskiy SA, Manglik A, Tesmer JJ, Gurevich VV, Gurevich EV "G Protein-coupled Receptor Kinases of the GRK4 Protein Subfamily Phosphorylate Inactive G Protein-coupled Receptors (GPCRs)." J Bio Chem. 2015 April ; 290(17) : 10775-90.
- Li L, Cheng H, Gai J, Yu D "Genome-wide identification and characterization of putative cytochrome P450 genes in the model legume Medicago truncatula." Planta. 2007 June ; 226 (1) : 109-23.
- Li L, Wang X, Gai J, Yu D "Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel microsomal oleate desaturase gene from soybean." J Plant Physiol. 2007 November ; 164(11) : 1516-26.
- Li L*, Liu S, Lei Y, Cheng Y, Yao C, Zhen X "Robo3.1A suppresses slit-mediated repulsion by triggering degradation of Robo2." J Neurosci Res. 2014 July ; 92(7) : 835-46.
- Chen J, Li L (co-first author), Chen SR, Chen H, Xie JD, Sirrieh RE, Maclean DM, Zhang Y, Jayaraman V, and Pan HL. "A novel α2δ-1-NMDA receptor coupling is critically involved in neuropathic pain and gabapentin action.." Cell Rep. 2018 22 : 2307-2321.
Memberships
- Society of Neuroscience
- Gulf Coast Consortium for Translational Pain Research
- Therapeutic Innovation Center at BCM
Funding
- Synaptic structural and functional plasticity underlying transition to chronic pain
- $1,440,000.00 (09/01/2020 - 08/31/2024) Grant funding from DoD Chronic Pain Management Research Program
- Synaptic plasticity mechanism underlying the development of opioid analgesic tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH)
- $200,000.00 (06/01/2020 - 05/31/2022) Grant funding from Mission Connect/TIRR Foundation
- Synaptic plasticity mechanisms underlying chronic pain-induced depression
- $60,000.00 (01/01/2021 - 12/31/2022) Grant funding from Mission Connect/TIRR Foundation
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