Xu Li received his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology from Tsinghua University, and his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology from School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California. After post-doctoral training at City of Hope National Medical Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center, he joined School of Life Sciences at Westlake University in 2018 as an assistant professor and established the Laboratory of Functional Proteomics and Complex Diseases.

Research efforts in Li lab are focused on uncovering the mechanisms of complex diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. We recruit a variety of cutting-edge proteomics, computational biology and biochemical approaches, to establish dynamic protein-protein interaction networks in human disease models. Using these networks, we will be able to explore the network rewiring and other dynamic processes involved in pathogenesis. We hope our research will reveal additional insights into the molecular basis of these complicated processes, and shed light on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of complex diseases.

* equal contribution

1. Jiang H, Bian W, Sui Y, Li H, Zhao H, Wang W, Li X. (2022) FBXO42 facilitates Notch signaling activation and global chromatin relaxation by promoting K63-linked polyubiquitination of RBPJ. Science Advances

2. Bian W, Jiang H, Feng S, Chen J*, Wang W*, Li X*. (2022) Protocol for establishing a protein-protein interaction network using tandem affinity purification followed by mass spectrometry in mammalian cells. STAR protocols 3:101569

3. Zhao H, Wang S, Li X. (2022) DNA damage accumulation in aging brain and its links to Alzheimer’s disease progression. Genome Instability & Disease 3:172–178

4. Bian W, Tang M, Jiang H, Xu W, Hao W, Sui Y, Hou Y, Nie L, Zhang H, Wang C, Li N, Wang J, Qin J, Wu L*, Ma X*, Chen J*, Wang W*, Li X*. (2021) Low-density Lipoprotein Receptor-related Protein 1 Mediates Notch Pathway Activation. Developmental Cell 56:2902-2919

5. Wang S, Qiu Z, Hou Y, Deng X, Xu W, Zheng T, Wu P, Xie S, Bian W, Zhang C, Sun Z, Liu K, Shan C, Lin A, Jiang S, Xie Y, Zhou Q, Lu L*, Huang J*, Li X* (2021) AXL is a candidate receptor for SARS-CoV-2 that promotes infection of pulmonary and bronchial epithelial Cells. Cell Research 31:126-140

6. Vargas R, Duong V, Han H, Ta AP, Chen Y, Zhao S, Yang B, Seo G, Chuc K, Oh S, Razorenova O, Chen J*, Luo R*, Li X*, Wang W* (2020) Elucidation of WW domain ligand binding specificities in the Hippo pathway reveals STXBP4 as YAP inhibitor. EMBO Journal 39:e102406

7. Seo G, Han H, Vargas R, Yang B, Li X*, Wang W* (2020) Proteomic analysis of the human MAP4Ks protein interaction network identifies STRIPAK complex component STRN4 as a negative regulator of the Hippo pathway. Cell Reports 32:107860

For a complete publication list of 45 publications, please visit

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ep32NXsAAAAJ&hl=en