A graduate of the Central South University, China, Dr. Li received a M.S. in Organic Chemistry in 1991 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2000. Dr. Li was an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Hunan Medical University, and an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Xiang-Ya School of Medicine at Central South University, China. In December 2000, Dr. Li joined the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, where he worked on molecular mechanisms and chemoprevention of colorectal cancer (http://www.nature.com/onc/journal/v26/n42/pdf/1210438a.pdf). His significant finding that AP-2a associates with APC/b-catenin provided extremely exciting leads on the role of AP-2a as a tumor suppressor in the colon (http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/279/44/45669). His in vivo studies showed that AP-2a dramatically inhibited intestinal tumor formation in Apcmin mice, a widely used animal model of polyp formation in the gut, suggesting AP-2a as a target of considerable promise in colon cancer gene therapy. Dr. Li joined UTMB in 2006 as an Assistant Professor and he recently demonstrated that nuclear MLC20 is a novel co-activator of ICAM-1 gene transcription.

Dr. Li’s primary research interests include (i) molecular mechanisms of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), especially novel functions of myosin regulatory light chain in the nuclei of colonic circular smooth muscle cells and critical role of MLC20 in the induction of ICAM-1 in response to TNFa; (ii) identification of new therapeutic targets for inflammatory bowel diseases; (iii) ICAM-1 in signal transduction pathways through outside-in signaling events; (iv) molecular mechanisms, chemoprevention and gene therapy of colorectal cancer.

Li QJ, Xie P, Huang JJ, Gu YP, Zeng WM, Song HP. Polymorphisms and functions of the aldose reductase gene 5’ regulatory region in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Chinese Medical Journal (English) 2002; 115: 205-213. 2. Li QJ, Dixon BM, Al-Fageeh M, Blum CA., Dashwood RH. Sequencing of the rat b-catenin gene (Ctnnb1) and mutational analysis of liver tumors induced by 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline. Gene 2002; 283: 255-262. 3. Díaz GD, Li QJ, Dashwood RH. Caspase-8 and AIF mediate a cytochrome c-independent pathway of apoptosis in human colon cancer cells induced by the dietary phytochemical chlorophyllin. Cancer Research 2003; 63: 1254-1261. 4. Li QJ, Dashwood WM, Zhong XY, Al-Fageeh M, Dashwood RH. Cloning of the Rat b-Catenin Gene (Ctnnb1) Promoter, and its Functional Analysis Compared with Catnb and CTNNB1 Promoters. Genomics 2004; 83: 231-242. 5. Al-Fageeh M, Li QJ, Dashwood WM, Myzak MC, Dashwood RH. Phosphorylation and ubiquitination of oncogenic mutants of b-catenin containing substitutions at Asp32. Oncogene 2004; 23: 4839-4846. 6. Li QJ, Dashwood RH. Activator protein 2a associates with adenomatous polyposis coli/b-catenin and inhibits b-catenin/T-cell factor transcriptional activity in colorectal cancer cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2004; 279: 45669-45675. 7. Li QJ, Zhong X, Dashwood WM, Nakagama H, Dashwood RH. Bcl-2 overexpression in PhIP-induced colon tumors: cloning of the rat Bcl-2 promoter and characterization of a pathway involving beta-catenin, c-Myc and E2F1. Oncogene 2007; 26: 6194-202

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