Jin Billy Li

Professor of Genetics

Academic Appointments

Professor, Genetics
Member, Bio-X
Member, Cardiovascular Institute
Member, Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)
Faculty Fellow, Sarafan ChEM-H
Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
Member, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Administrative Appointments

Director, Graduate Studies of Genetics PhD Program (2014 - 2022)
Member, Stanford Diabetes Research Center (2020 - Present)

Honors & Awards

Chen Award of Excellence, Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) (2020)
New Scholar Award, Ellison Medical Foundation (2012-2016)

Professional Education

Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Genomics and Technology
Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis, Genetics and Computational Biology (2005)
M.S., Tsinghua University, Molecular Biology (1999)
B.S., Tsinghua University, Biology (1997)

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

The Li Lab is primarily interested in RNA editing mediated by ADAR enzymes. We co-discovered that the major function of RNA editing is to label endogenous dsRNAs as "self" to avoid being recognized as "non-self" by MDA5, a host innate immune dsRNA sensor, leading us to pursue therapeutic applications in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and viral infection. The other major direction of the lab is to develop technologies to harness endogenous ADAR enzymes for site-specific transcriptome engineering.

2024-25 Courses

Independent Studies
- Biomedical Informatics Teaching Methods
  BIOMEDIN 290 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Directed Reading and Research
  BIOMEDIN 299 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Directed Reading in Biophysics
  BIOPHYS 399 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Directed Reading in Genetics
  GENE 299 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Graduate Research
  BIOPHYS 300 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Graduate Research
  GENE 399 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Medical Scholars Research
  BIOMEDIN 370 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Medical Scholars Research
  GENE 370 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Supervised Study
  GENE 260 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Undergraduate Research
  GENE 199 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)

Stanford Advisees

Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Usman Enam, Drew Galls, Janie Kim, Abby Thurm
Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor
Rabah Dabouz, Feng Jiang, Kenneth Osterhoudt

Graduate and Fellowship Programs

Biomedical Data Science (Phd Program)
Biophysics (Phd Program)
Genetics (Phd Program)

All Publications

Profiles With Related Publications

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Russ B. Altman

Kenneth Fong Professor and Professor of Bioengineering, of Genetics, of Medicine, of Biomedical Data Science, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for HAI and Professor, by courtesy, of Computer Science
Research Interests
I refer you to my web page for detailed list of interests, projects and publications. In addition to pressing the link here, you can search "Russ Altman" on http://www.google.com/

714 Total Publications
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Gill Bejerano

Professor of Developmental Biology, of Computer Science, of Pediatrics (Genetics) and of Biomedical Data Science
Research Interests
1. Automating monogenic patient diagnosis.
2. The genomic signatures of independent divergent and convergent trait evolution in mammals.
3. The logic of human gene regulation.
4. The reasons for sequence ultraconservation.
5. Cryptogenomics to bridge medical silos.
6. Cryptogenetics to debate social injustice.
7. Managing patient risk using machine learning.
8. Understanding the flow of money in the US healthcare system.

133 Total Publications
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Patrick O. Brown

Professor of Biochemistry, Emeritus
Research Interests
Dr. Brown's research focuses on replacing humanity's most destructive invention - the use of animals as a food technology - by developing a new and better way to produce the world's most delicious, nutritious and affordable meats, fish and dairy foods directly from plants. He is also working on developing and scaling optimal methods for restoring healthy ecosystems and sequestering carbon on the 45% of Earth's surface that have been devastated by animal agriculture.

319 Total Publications
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Anne Brunet

Michele and Timothy Barakett Endowed Professor
Research Interests
Our lab studies the molecular basis of longevity. We are interested in the mechanism of action of known longevity genes, including FOXO and SIRT, in the mammalian nervous system. We are particularly interested in the role of these longevity genes in neural stem cells. We are also discovering novel genes and processes involved in aging using two short-lived model systems, the invertebrate C. elegans and an extremely short-lived vertebrate, the African killifish N. furzeri.

161 Total Publications
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Mike Cherry

Professor (Research) of Genetics, Emeritus
Research Interests
My research involves identifying, validating and integrating scientific facts into encyclopedic databases essential for research and scientific education. Published results of scientific experimentation are a foundation of our understanding of the natural world and provide motivation for new experiments. The combination of in-depth understanding reported in the literature with computational analyses is an essential ingredient of modern biological research.

148 Total Publications
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Jesse Engreitz

Assistant Professor of Genetics
Research Interests
Regulatory elements in the human genome harbor thousands of genetic risk variants for common diseases and could reveal targets for therapeutics — if only we could map the complex regulatory wiring that connects 2 million regulatory elements with 21,000 genes in thousands of cell types in the human body.

We combine experimental and computational genomics, biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics to assemble regulatory maps of the human genome and uncover biological mechanisms of disease.

65 Total Publications
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Andrew Fire

George D. Smith Professor of Molecular and Genetic Medicine and Professor of Pathology and of Genetics
Research Interests
While chromosomal inheritance provides cells with one means for keeping and transmitting genetic information, numerous other mechanisms have (and remain to be) discovered. We study novel cellular mechanisms that enforce genetic constancy and permit genetic change. Underlying our studies are questions of the diversity of inheritance mechanisms, how cells distinguish such mechanisms as "wanted" versus "unwanted", and of the consequences and applications of such mechanisms in health and disease.

190 Total Publications
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Uta Francke

Professor of Genetics and of Pediatrics, Emerita
Clinical Focus
Neurogenetics, Clinical Genetics, Marfan syndrome, Williams syndrome, Heritable connective tissue disorders
Research Interests
Functional consequences and pathogenetic mechanisms of mutations and microdeletions in human neurogenetic syndromes and mouse models. Integration of genomic information into medical care.

565 Total Publications
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Hunter Fraser

Professor of Biology
Research Interests
We study the evolution of complex traits by developing new experimental and computational methods.

Our work brings together quantitative genetics, genomics, epigenetics, and evolutionary biology to achieve a deeper understanding of how genetic variation shapes the phenotypic diversity of life. Our main focus is on the evolution of gene expression, which is the primary fuel for natural selection. Our long-term goal is to be able to introduce complex traits into new species via genome editing.

94 Total Publications
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Andrew Gentles

Associate Professor (Research) of Pathology, of Medicine (BMIR) and, by courtesy, of Biomedical Data Science

118 Total Publications
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Maya M. Kasowski

Assistant Professor of Pathology, of Medicine (Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine) and, by courtesy, of Genetics
Clinical Focus
Anatomic and Clinical Pathology

22 Total Publications
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Anshul Kundaje

Associate Professor of Genetics and of Computer Science
Research Interests
We develop statistical and machine learning frameworks to learn predictive, dynamic and causal models of gene regulation from heterogeneous functional genomics data.

216 Total Publications