Vivian Li Explained

Vivian Li
Spouse:William Berry
Fields:Bowel cancer development, Organoids
Alma Mater:Chinese University of Hong Kong
Thesis Year:2008
Known For:Developmental biology, Organoids
Awards:Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize, Cancer Research UK;Women in Cell Biology Early Career Medal Winner, British Society for Cell Biology;BACR/AstraZeneca Young Scientist Frank Rose Award, British Association for Cancer Research

Vivian Li is a Hong Kong-born cell and developmental biologist working in cancer research at London's Francis Crick Institute. She has been researching how stem cells in the human bowel are programmed to ensure a healthy organ and what goes wrong when cancer develops.[1] She is known for her work on the Wnt signalling pathway, discovering a new way that a molecule called Wnt is activated in bowel cancer.[2] She won a Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize in part for this discovery.[3]

Education and early career

Li studied molecular biotechnology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2000 to 2003, focusing on plant biotech in her final year. She then pursued a PhD in pathology at the University of Hong Kong, awarded in 2008.[4] After her PhD Li spent a few years working under Hans Clevers' at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands.

Li became a group leader in 2013, setting up her laboratory at the MRC's National Institute for Medical Research (now part of the Francis Crick Institute). She was appointed a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in April 2015.

Research

Li's research team has used the bowel as a model to study how stem cells help maintain a healthy organ, and what goes wrong when cancer develops. She's focused her career on a particular signalling pathway that helps stem cells grow and multiply properly, called Wnt. Overactive Wnt signalling is associated with many bowel cancers by causing stem cells to divide too quickly.

Li's lab have used a variety of models, including an innovative organoid system, to reveal a new way that a molecule called Wnt is activated in bowel cancer.[5] Li's work has offered the prospect of targeted treatment of tumour cells without toxic effects on healthy cells.[6] [7] This discovery was one of the reasons that she won a Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize in 2018. Research like this could help scientists to develop more targeted treatments for bowel cancer in the future.

Li's work in growing intestinal cells in a laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute has benefited from the Institute's proximity to hospitals such as Great Ormond Street Hospital.[8] Li was listed as a ‘scientist to watch’ in an article on the rising stars of culture, science and food in 2019 in The Observer.[9]

Li aims to use her expertise in growing intestines in the lab to improve organ transplantation in the future. In September 2020, Li's lab revealed they had grown tissue grafts using stem cells and tissue taken from patients' intestines, publishing their findings in the journal Nature Medicine.[10] This technique could one day be used to personalised transplants for children with intestinal failure.

Events

Li was part of New Scientists Live Talks in 2019, with a talk entitled 'Fighting cancer: How growing mini organs could create better treatment.[11]

Awards and honours

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Vivian Li . Crick . 2019-03-07.
  2. Novellasdemunt . Laura . Foglizzo . Valentina . Cuadrado . Laura . Antas . Pedro . Kucharska . Anna . Encheva . Vesela . Snijders . Ambrosius P. . Li . Vivian S. W. . 2017-10-17 . USP7 Is a Tumor-Specific WNT Activator for APC-Mutated Colorectal Cancer by Mediating β-Catenin Deubiquitination . Cell Reports . 21 . 3 . 612–627 . 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.09.072 . 2211-1247 . 5656747 . 29045831.
  3. Web site: Celebrating a lifetime in cancer biology, an early diagnosis champion, and our leaders of tomorrow: the 2018 CRUK Research Prizes . 2018-12-06 . Cancer Research UK . 2019-03-07.
  4. https://www.gradsch.hku.hk/gradsch/current-students/awards-prizes/award-for-outstanding-research-postgraduate-student "Award for Outstanding Research Postgraduate Student"
  5. Web site: Leading the future of cancer research . Crick . 2019-03-07.
  6. News: Lansdowne . Laura Elizabeth . Cell Signaling in Cancer . 7 March 2019 . Technology Networks . 17 December 2018.
  7. News: Atherton . Matt . Bowel cancer BREAKTHROUGH: New treatment is first non-toxic therapy . 7 March 2019 . Express . 18 October 2017.
  8. News: Davis . Nicola . Meet the researchers at London's £700m altar to biomedical science . 7 March 2019 . The Guardian . 17 February 2016.
  9. News: New talent: the rising stars of culture, science and food 2019 . Guardian Staff . 2019-01-06 . The Observer . 2019-03-07 . 0029-7712.
  10. Engineering transplantable jejunal mucosal grafts using patient-derived organoids from children with intestinal failure. Nature Medicine . 2020 . 10.1038/s41591-020-1024-z . Meran . Laween . Massie . Isobel . Campinoti . Sara . Weston . Anne E. . Gaifulina . Riana . Tullie . Lucinda . Faull . Peter . Orford . Michael . Kucharska . Anna . Baulies . Anna . Novellasdemunt . Laura . Angelis . Nikolaos . Hirst . Elizabeth . König . Julia . Tedeschi . Alfonso Maria . Pellegata . Alessandro Filippo . Eli . Susanna . Snijders . Ambrosius P. . Collinson . Lucy . Thapar . Nikhil . Thomas . Geraint M. H. . Eaton . Simon . Bonfanti . Paola . De Coppi . Paolo . Li . Vivian S. W. . 26 . 10 . 1593–1601 . 32895569 . 7116539 .
  11. Web site: Fighting cancer: How growing mini organs could create better treatment. 2020-09-16. New Scientist. en-US.
  12. Web site: Dr Vivian Li on contributing her piece to the puzzle of science Croucher Foundation. 18 December 2014 . 2019-03-07.
  13. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/how-we-deliver-research/our-research-prizes/future-leaders-in-cancer-research-prize "Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize"
  14. Web site: WICB Early Career Medal Winner 2021: Vivian Li British Society for Cell Biology. 2021-10-28. en-US.
  15. 2021-08-25. Cell scientist to watch – Vivian Li. Journal of Cell Science. 134. 16. 10.1242/jcs.259245. 241526918 . 0021-9533. free.
  16. Web site: Women in Cell Biology Early Career Award Medal British Society for Cell Biology. 2021-10-28. en-US.
  17. Web site: BACR/AstraZeneca Young Scientist Frank Rose Award BACR - The British Association for Cancer Research. 2021-10-28. www.bacr.org.uk.

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