Wei Li Lab of Computational Biomedicine

Our research bridges computational biology, epigenetics, RNA regulation, liquid biopsy, and human genetics, focusing on transforming genomics data into actionable medical insights. We have a strong track record in developing widely-used open-source bioinformatics algorithms, such as MACS (>16,000 citations) for ChIP-seq, enabling scientists to fully harness the potential of genomics data. Collaborating closely with experimental biologists and physician-scientists, our laboratory has uncovered novel mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic targets for a variety of human diseases, including cancers, neurological disorders, and metabolic conditions. Notably, our significant advances in DNA methylation analysis have led to several US patents and the development of a liquid biopsy for early detection of liver cancer, currently nearing FDA approval. Furthermore, our work on alternative polyadenylation (APA) is the first of its kind to enable the discovery of many APA-linked disease risk genes for numerous human complex diseases. Our pioneering research on tandem repeat expansions has rapidly been integrated into clinical practice, significantly improving the diagnosis of rare genetic disorders. Since establishing the lab in early 2008, we have (as of 05/2024) 

  • Published ~200 peer-reviewed papers through solid methodology development and extensive collaboration research, including 35 senior-author papers prestigious journals like Nature, Cell and Science series, with an H-index of 96 and total citations of over 72,000.
  • Been well-funded with 3 PI grants from NIH: R01CA193466 (2015-2025), R01CA228140 (2019-2025) and R01CA290720 (2024-2029).
  • Mentored 12 former trainees to start their independent faculty positions in prestigious research institutions, such as Harvard Medical School and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

Latest News

  • 10/2022: Xueyi and Zhuoxing have been awarded the prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Hewitt Foundation for Medical Research.
  • 01/2022: Allen has been awarded a highly prestigious American Heart Association (AHA) Postdoctoral Fellowship on APA genes in cardiometabolic diseases.