Rong Li, Director

Director and Distinguished Professor

Research Areas

Prof Li joined the MBI from Johns Hopkins University, where she was a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at the School of Medicine and the Whiting School of Engineering since 2015. Prof Li is also the director of the Center for Cell Dynamics at the School of Medicine’s Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences.

Prof Li is a globally respected leader in the study of cellular dynamics and mechanics. Her interdisciplinary research integrates genetics, quantitative imaging, biophysical measurements, mathematical modelling, genomics and proteomics — to understand how eukaryotic cells transmit their genomes, adapt to the environment, and establish distinct organisation to perform specialised functions. She has made seminal discoveries in the regulation of cell division, cell polarity, the actin cytoskeleton, aneuploidy and proteostasis. The insights gained from her research have contributed to the fundamental understanding of cancer and age-related diseases.

More Information:

Professor Rong Li came from Johns Hopkins University where she served as the Director of the Center for Cell Dynamics in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has had over 25 years of independent research on cellular dynamics and mechanics employing interdisciplinary approaches. She was recruited to NUS in 2019 as the second Director of MBI succeeding Professor Michael Sheetz.

Combined BS and MS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 1988
PhD in Biophysics and Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, 1992

  1. Lu Y, Walji T, Pandey P, Zhou C, Habela CW, Snapper SB, Li R, and Chen EH. Branched actin polymerization drives invasive protrusion formation to promote myoblast fusion during mouse skeletal muscle regeneration. Elife 2026; 14. [PMID: 41608858]
  2. Liu AZ, Narkar A, Li K, Bertomeu T, Johnson BA, Coulombe-Huntington J, Dong Y, Zhu J, Tyers M, and Li R. The scaffold protein PRR14L links the PP2A-TACC3 axis to mitotic fidelity and sensitivity to MPS1 inhibition. bioRxiv 2025;. [PMID: 41279925]
  3. Wang H, Huang Z, Shen X, Lee Y, Song X, Shu C, Wu LH, Pakkiri LS, Lim PL, Zhang X, Drum CL, Zhu J, and Li R. Publisher Correction: Rejuvenation of aged oocyte through exposure to young follicular microenvironment. Nat Aging 2025;. [PMID: 40987959]
  4. Lee Y, Shen X, Dreesen O, Zhua J, and Li R. Dysregulation of Extracellular Fibronectin and 5-integrin in Dermal Aging. Mol Biol Cell 2025;:mbcE25020074. [PMID: 40560397]
  5. Zhu J, Chan SJW, Cui H, Mikhalovsky AA, Garcia FL, Goh BYW, Soh WWM, Moreland AS, Limwongyut J, Shyamasundar S, Wu Y, Liang F, Li R, and Bazan GC. Mechanosensitive Conjugated Oligoelectrolytes for Visualizing Temporal Changes in Live Cells. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2025;:e202506396. [PMID: 40325862]
  6. Liu S, Meng Y, Lan X, Li R, and Kanchanawong P. Ground-state pluripotent stem cells are characterized by Rac1-dependent Cadherin-enriched F-actin Complexes. J Cell Sci 2025;. [PMID: 39886806]
  7. Li Y, Ong HT, Cui H, Gao X, Lee JWN, Guo Y, Li R, Pennacchio FA, Maiuri P, Efremov AK, and Holle AW. Confinement-sensitive volume regulation dynamics via high-speed nuclear morphological measurements. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121(52):e2408595121. [PMID: 39700138]
  8. Lu Y, Walji T, Ravaux B, Pandey P, Yang C, Li B, Luvsanjav D, Lam KH, Zhang R, Luo Z, Zhou C, Habela CW, Snapper SB, Li R, Goldhamer DJ, Schmidtke DW, Pan D, Svitkina TM, and Chen EH. Spatiotemporal coordination of actin regulators generates invasive protrusions in cell-cell fusion. Nat Cell Biol 2024;. [PMID: 39487253]
  9. Wu H, Wang LC, Sow BM, Leow D, Zhu J, Gallo KM, Wilsbach K, Gupta R, Ostrow LW, Yeo CJJ, Sobota RM, and Li R. TDP43 aggregation at ER-exit sites impairs ER-to-Golgi transport. Nat Commun 2024; 15(1):9026. [PMID: 39424779]
  10. Lu Y, Walji T, Pandey P, Zhou C, Habela CW, Snapper SB, Li R, and Chen EH. Branched actin polymerization drives invasive protrusion formation to promote myoblast fusion during skeletal muscle regeneration. bioRxiv 2024;. [PMID: 39416162]

Lim Choon Kiat

Senior Research Fellow, Li Group

ZHUANG Zirui

PhD Student, Class of August 2025, Li Group

QUAN Cheng

PhD Student, Class of August 2025, Li Group

Hannah Fung

Research Fellow, Li Group

Goh Jia Lin Kellisa

PhD Student, Class of August 2024, Li Group

Ivo Johannes Hendrikus Marie de Vos

Research Fellow, Li Group

Xiaohong Yao

Research Fellow, Li Group

Sujana Andra

Research Assistant, Li Group

Li Keming

PhD Student, Class of August 2022, Li Group

Lan Xi

PhD Student, Class of August 2022, Li Group

Stefan Mueller

Research Fellow, Li Group
Li Lab_Cui Hongyue

Cui Hongyue

PhD Student, Class of August 2021, Li Group
Li Lab_Shu Chang

Shu Chang

PhD Student, Class of August 2021, Li Group

Seah Kwi Shan

Research Fellow, Li Group

Shen Xingyu

PhD Student, Class of January 2021, Li Group, Young Group

Alokendra Ghosh

Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Li Group

Wong Bin Sheng

Research Fellow, Li Group

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