Faculty Information
Xin Li, PhD
Professor (tenured)
Molecular Pathobiology
Room 901D Dental Center, 421 First Avenue
Phone: 212-992-7009
Fax: 212-995-4087
E-mail: xl15@nyu.edu
Education
PhD, Physiology, Rutgers University
MS, Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
BS, Biology, Shandong University
Honors / Credentials
- 2019 – present Chair of the IABMR International Development Committee
- 2018 – present Board member-International Association for Biological and Medical Research (IABMR)
- 2018 – 2019 NIH Study section Member Conflict Panel: ZRG1 MOSS-S (02)
- 2017 – 2018 Member of the NIH Scientific Review Group "Biology of Aging Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Tissues"
- 2017 NYU Dentistry Faculty Council "Outstanding Teacher Award"
- 2017 Mentor to Awardee Wonkyu Seo Bloc Travel Grant (AADR)
- 2016 Mentor to Awardee Yuqi Guo ASBMR Young Investigator Award (Atlanta, GA)
- 2015 Summer Faculty, ICGEB, University of Capetown, South Africa
- 2015 Society for Basic Urologic Research Young Investigator Awards
- 2014 Goddard Fellowship, NYU Dentistry
- 2009 Young Investigator Award, International Bone and Mineral Society (IBMS) International Conference on Cancer-Induced Bone Disease (Arlington, VA)
- 2009 ASBMR Young Investigator Award (Denver, CO)
- 2009 ASBMR-Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award (Sun Valley, ID)
- 2008 Fellowship from the Endocrine Fellows Foundation to Attend Third Annual Fellow Forum in Metabolic Bone Diseases, (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
- 2001 Excellence Fellowship, Cook College, Rutgers University
- 2023-2027 Standing member, Oral, Dental and Craniofacial Sciences Study Section (ODCS), Musculoskeletal, Oral and Skin Sciences Integrated Review Group (MOSS), NIH
- 2023 Madness Match Champion
- 2023-2024 Chair of the Science Information Committee, American Association for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Research (AADOCR)
Research Interests / Professional Overview
We are intrigued to investigate the impact of metabolites that function as non-autonomous signals in pathophysiological conditions like aging and diabetes. Recently, we found that succinate, a TCA cycle metabolite was significantly elevated in mammalian and bacteria exposed to high glucose. Our recent paper in Nature Communications demonstrates that succinate enhances osteoclastogenesis through its receptor Sucnr1 in vitro and in vivo. We will reveal a novel mechanism of succinate and its G-protein coupled receptor (SUCNR1) in osteoclastogenesis, inflammaging and aging-related bone loss.
We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic candidate to join our group. The ideal candidates should be recent master's or PhD graduates in related biomedical research field. Experience in animal models and biochemistry techniques is preferred.
The position is available immediately and remains open until filled.
Current Funding
- NIH/NIA R01 AG080696 Li (PI) 01/01/2023 - 12/31/2027
Title: Succinate signaling in periodontitis induced neuroinflammation and dementia
Total Award: $ 3,111,663 - NIH/NIDCR R42 DE028212 Li (NYU-PI) 09/15/2022-08/31/2024
Title: A Novel remedy for periodontal bone loss
Total Award: $1.61 million - Department of Defense W81XWH-19-1-0603 Li (PI) 02/15/2021-09/29/2024
Title: Targeting the Microbiome to Enable Immunotherapeutic Efficacy in Pancreatic Carcinoma
Total Award: $742,161.90 - NIH/NIA R01AG068857 Li (PI) 8/15/2020 - 4/30/2025
Title: Succinate triggers gut dysbiosis and activates SUCNR1 to enhance inflammaging
Total Award: $2,433,043 - NIH/NIDCR 1R01DE027074 Li (PI) 04/2018-03/31/2024
Title: Targeting Succinate Signaling Impedes Periodontitis Progression
Total Award: $2.24 million
Lab Members:
Alumni:
- Xinying Wang (Postdoc Fellow 2011 – 2012)
Current Position: Chief Physician, Associate Prof., Zhujiang Hospital, Guangzhou, China - Tunde Akinyeke (Postdoc Fellow 2011 – 2013)
Current Position: Associate Faculty, Shoreline Community College - Jian Yang (Postdoc Fellow 2014 – 2018)
Current Position: R&D Scientist, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, Shanghai, China - Ruohan Zhang (Master's student 2017 – 2018)
Current position: PhD candidate, Ohio State University - Liang Luo (Master's student, 2016 – 2017)
Current position: PhD Candidate, Florida University - Yanli Zhang, MD, PhD
- Caleb Almeter, BS
- Zeynep Akpinar
- Prem Prakash, PhD
- Jiho Lim
- Andrew Jung
- Andrew Mingyu Park
- Patty Li
- Payalben Kansara
Representative Publications
Complete listing available on the NYU Health Sciences Library site.
(*=Corresponding author)
Stern J, Miller G, Li X, Saxena D. Virome and bacteriome: Two sides of the same coin. Current Opinion in Virology. 2019 Jun 6;37:37-43. PMID: 31177014.
Wang S, Wang N, Yu B, Cao M, Wang Y, Guo Y, Zhang Y, Zhang P, Yu X, Wang S, Zeng L, Liang B, Li X*, and Wu Y. Circulating IGF-1 Promotes Prostate Adenocarcinoma via FOXO3A/BIM Signaling in a Double Transgenic Mouse Model. Oncogene 2019; (in press)
Yang J, Guo Y, Seo W, Zhang R, Lu C, Wang Y, Luo L, Paul B, Yan W, Saxena D, Li X*.Targeting cellular metabolism to reduce head and neck cancer growth. Scientific Reports. March 21, 2019. PMID: 30899051; PMCID: PMC6428890
Yang J, Guo Y, Lu C, Zhang R, Wang Y, Luo L, Zhang Y, Chu CH, Wang KJ, Obbad S, Yan W, Li X*. Inhibition of Karyopherin beta 1 suppresses prostate cancer growth. Oncogene Feb 11, 2019.
Sun J, Liu Y, Yu J, Wu J, Gao W, Ran L, Jiang R, Guo M, Han D, Liu B, Wang N, Li Y, He H, Zeng L, Gao Y, Li X*, and Wu Y. Effects of APS activates hepatic insulin signaling in HFD-induced IR mice. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. 2019; May 1. PMID: 31137008
Ran L, Wang X, Mi A, Liu Y, Wu J, Guo M, Sun J, Liu B, L Y, Wang D, Jiang R, Wang N, Gao W, Zeng L, Huang L, Chen X, LeRoith D, Liang B, Li X*, Wu Y. Loss of adipose GHR in mice enhances local fatty acid trapping and impairs BAT thermogenesis. iScience. 2019;S2589-0042(19)30157-9. PMID: 31154207; PMCID: PMC6545351.
Pushalkar S, Hundeyin M, Daley D, Zambirinis CP, Kurz E, Mishra A, Mohan N, Aykut B, Usyk M, Torres LE, Werba G, Zhang K, Guo Y, Li Q, Akkad N, Lall S, Wadowski B, Gutierrez J, Kochen Rossi JA, Herzog JW, Diskin B, Torres-Hernandez A, Leinwand J, Wang W, Taunk PS, Savadkar S, Janal M, Saxena A, Li X, Cohen D, Sartor RB, Saxena D, Miller G. The pancreatic cancer microbiome promotes oncogenesis by induction of innate and adaptive immune suppression. Cancer Discov. 2018 Apr;8(4):403-416. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-17-1134. Epub 2018 Mar 22. PubMed PMID: 29567829.
Guo Y, Xie C, Li X, Yang J, Yu T, Zhang R, Zhang T, Saxena D, Snyder M, Wu Y, Li X*. Succinate and its G-protein-coupled receptor stimulates osteoclastogenesis. Nat Commun. 2017 May 31;8:15621. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15621. PubMed PMID: 28561074; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5460032.
Yang J, Lu C, Wei J, Guo Y, Liu W, Luo L, Fisch G, Li X*. Inhibition of KPNA4 attenuates prostate cancer metastasis. Oncogene. 2017 May 18;36(20):2868-2878. doi: 10.1038/onc.2016.440. Epub 2016 Dec 12. PubMed PMID: 27941876; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5436935.
Yu T, Wang C, Yang J, Guo Y, Wu Y, Li X*. Metformin inhibits SUV39H1-mediated migration of prostate cancer cells. Oncogenesis. 2017 May 1;6(5):e324. doi: 10.1038/oncsis.2017.28. PubMed PMID: 28459432; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5523061.
Guo Y, Yu T, Yang J, Zhang T, Zhou Y, He F, Kurago Z, Myssiorek D, Wu Y, Lee P, Li X*. Metformin inhibits salivary adenocarcinoma growth through cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Am J Cancer Res. 2015 Nov 15;5(12):3600-11. eCollection 2015.
Li X, Guo Y, Yan W, Snyder MP, Li X*. Metformin improves diabetic bone health by re-balancing catabolism and nitrogen disposal. PLoS One. 2015 Dec 30;10(12):e0146152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146152. eCollection 2015.
Yang J, Wei J, Wu Y, Wang Z, Guo Y, Lee P, Li X*. Metformin induces ER stress-dependent apoptosis through miR-708-5p/NNAT pathway in prostate cancer. Oncogenesis. 2015 Jun 15;4:e158. doi: 10.1038/oncsis.2015.18. PubMed PMID: 26075749; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4491613.
Wei J, Wang Z, Makarov D, Li X*. Current treatments and novel therapeutic targets for castration resistant prostate cancer with bone metastasis. Am J Clin Exp Urol. 2013 Dec 25;1(1):30-8. eCollection 2013. Review. PubMed PMID: 25374898; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4219282.
Akinyeke T, Matsumura S, Wang X, Wu Y, Schalfer ED, Saxena A, Yan W, Logan SK, Li X*. Metformin targets c-MYC oncogene to prevent prostate cancer. Carcinogenesis. 2013 Dec;34(12):2823-32. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgt307. Epub 2013 Oct 15. PubMed PMID: 24130167; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3845895.
Yan W, Li X*. Impact of diabetes and its treatments on skeletal diseases. Front Med. 2013 Mar;7(1):81-90. doi: 10.1007/s11684-013-0243-9. Epub 2013 Feb 2. Review. PubMed PMID: 23377889.
My complete bibliography