Positions
- Professor
-
Breast Center; Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology; Department of Molecular Virology & Microbiology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX, US
- Member
-
Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States
Addresses
- BCM-Alkek Building (Office)
-
Mail Stop: BCM600
Houston, TX, 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-3963
liyi@bcm.edu
https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/yi-li-25448
- BCM-Alkek Building (Lab)
-
Mail Stop: BCM600
Houston, TX, 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-3963
liyi@bcm.edu
https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/yi-li-25448
Education
- BS from Jiangsu Agricultural College
- 07/1984 - Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China, People's Rep
- MS from Jiangsu Agricultural College
- 07/1987 - Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China, People's Rep
- PhD from Michigan State University
- 01/1996 - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
- Postdoctoral Training at National Cancer Institute
- 01/2000 - Bethesda, Maryland, United States
- Postdoctoral Training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- 10/2002 - New York, New York, United States
Professional Interests
- Mouse and rat models of breast cancer
- Immune cells and breast cancer metastasis and therapy
- JAK-STAT and Bcl-xL signaling breast cancer
Professional Statement
The Li lab has developed multiple novel mouse and rat models that closely mimic human breast cancer initiation and progression. Using these models and cell biological, biochemical, genetic, and omic approaches, they have gained insights into Wnt-EGFR signaling in cancer progression, and discovered a JAK2-STAT5-regulated anti-apoptosis mechanism in promoting breast cancer development. Furthermore, their preclinical work on intermittent anti-JAK treatment for preventing breast cancer has resulted in a multi-center window-of-opportunity clinical trial (TBCRC042). Their recent success in introducing oncogenic drivers directly into mammary cells in rats has led to first models that can fully mimic human ER+ breast cancer (https://blogs.bcm.edu/2026/07/09/from-the-labs-genome-editing-in-rats-enables-more-accurate-er-breast-cancer-models/). They are now utilizing these models to study how ER+ breast tumors metastasize and develop resistance to cancer therapies.
Selected Publications
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Du Z, Podsypanina K, Huang S, McGrath A, Toneff MJ, Bogoslovskaia E, Zhang X, Moraes RC, Fluck M, Allred DC, Lewis MT, Varmus HE, Li Y.. " Introduction of oncogenes into mammary glands in vivo with an avian retroviral vector initiates and promotes carcinogenesis in mouse models " Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.. 2006 Nov ; 103 (46) : 17396-401.
Pubmed PMID: 17090666. -
32) Reddy, J.P., Peddibhotla, S., Bu, W., Zhao, J., Haricharan, S., Du, Y.C., Podsypanina, K., Rosen, J.M., Donehower, L.A. and Li, Y. " Defining the ATM-mediated barrier to tumorigenesis in somatic mammary cells following ErbB2 activation " PNAS. 2010 ; 107 (8) : 3728-33.
Pubmed PMID: 20133707. -
Haricharan S, Dong J, Hein S, Reddy JP, Du Z, Toneff M, Holloway K, Hilsenbeck SG, Huang S, Atkinson R, Woodward W, Jindal S, Borges VF, Gutierrez C, Zhang H, Schedin PJ, Osborne CK, Tweardy DJ, Li Y.. " Mechanism and preclinical prevention of increased breast cancer risk caused by pregnancy " eLIFE. 2013 Dec 31; 2 : e00996.
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Zheng, Z.-Y., Tian, L., Bu, W., Fan, C., Gao, X., Wang, H., Liao, Y.-H., Li, Y., Lewis, M.T., Edwards, D., Zwaka, T.P., Hilsenbeck, S.G., Medina, D., Perou, C.M., Creighton, C.J., Zhang, X.H-F., & Chang, E.C. " Wild type N-Ras, overexpressed in basal-like breast cancer, drives tumor formation by inducing IL8 secretion via JAK2 activation " Cell Reports. 2015 ; 12 : 511.
Pubmed PMID: 26166574.
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