Dr. Gene-Wei Li is a distinguished scholar at the forefront of quantitative biological research, currently serving as Associate Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His academic journey began with a B.S. in Physics from National Tsinghua University, followed by a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University where he worked under advisors X. Sunney Xie and David Nelson. After completing postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco with Jonathan S. Weissman, he established his independent laboratory at MIT in 2015, bringing a unique physics perspective to fundamental biological questions. Born in California and raised in Taiwan, Dr. Li has developed a distinctive approach that bridges rigorous quantitative analysis with deep biological inquiry, making significant contributions to our understanding of cellular processes.
Dr. Li's groundbreaking research seeks to unravel how cells achieve precise levels of gene expression—a fundamental yet poorly understood transformation from genomic information to specific protein concentrations. His laboratory has pioneered innovative quantitative tools to monitor transcription factor dynamics in vivo and measure absolute protein synthesis rates, revealing principles underlying cellular resource allocation. By employing comparative studies of bacterial models including E. coli and B. subtilis, his work has demonstrated how evolution conserves protein stoichiometries despite divergent post-transcriptional control mechanisms over billions of years. This research has profound implications for synthetic biology and genetic engineering, addressing critical questions about the consequences of exogenous protein expression in cellular systems.
Recognized as a leading investigator in his field, Dr. Li has earned numerous prestigious accolades including his appointment as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 2024 and receipt of the NSF CAREER Award. His laboratory's rigorous approach to experimental design and quantitative analysis has established new standards for measuring gene expression dynamics at the molecular level. As he assumes the role of associate head of the MIT Department of Biology for the 2025-26 academic year, Dr. Li continues to champion interdisciplinary collaboration while mentoring the next generation of scientists with his philosophy of providing support while allowing intellectual freedom. His ongoing research promises to further illuminate the physical and quantitative principles governing cellular information flow and transform our ability to predict and engineer biological systems with precision.
