Chenjian Li, PhD

Chenjian Li is assistant professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Neurological Diseases, Dept. of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell University. His laboratory is devoted to the molecular genetic understanding of neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and Parkinson's diseases. Dr. Li majored in biochemistry in the Department of Biology at Beijing University, and then studied medicine at Peking Union Medical College. He received his PhD from Purdue University, studying molecular genetics of vision and retinal degeneration in drosophila. He then did postdoctoral work in Dr. Bruce McEwen's lab at The Rockefeller University, investigating neuronal synapse remodeling and learning/memory. He subsequently joined a team led by Dr. Nathaniel Heintz, also at Rockefeller, to develop BAC transgenic technology. Among Dr. Li's many honors and awards are the National Research Service Award and the C.H. Li Memorial Award. He also received the National Book Award in China for his translation of a book by physicist Richard Feynman.