Guang Li, Ph.D.

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Developmental Biology

Education & Training

  • B.S., Nanchang University, China- 2007
  • Ph.D.,Chinese Academy of Sciences- 2012
  • Postdoc-Stanford University-2017
  • Instructor-Stanford University-2019

Research Interest Summary

My lab studies the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms in heart development using mouse models and human iPSCs.

Research Categories

Research Interests

Heart development as a critical embryonic developmental process is tightly regulated on the cellular and molecular level. If this process goes awry, it will lead to congenital heart diseases (CHD), which accounts for a significant portion of stillbirths and is present in 1-2% of all live births. We are using advanced techniques including human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC), single-cell RNA sequencing, single molecular in situ hybridization, CRISPR/Cas9, and tissue cleaning methods to decode the spatial and temporal information of each single cardiac cells. Meanwhile, with the knowledge gained from the study of basic cardiac lineage regulations, the lab is also exploring the lineage defects in congenital heart diseases using patient-derived iPSCs.

Representative Publications

Li G.,* Tian L., Goodyer W., Kort E., Buikema J., Xu A., Wu J., Jovinge S. *, Wu SM* (2019) Single cell expression analysis reveals anatomical and cell cycle-dependent transcriptional shifts during heart development. Development. PMID: 31142541 *Corresponding author. 

Li G.,* Xu A.,* Sim S, Priest J., Tian X., Khan T., Quertermous T., Zhou B., Tsao P., Quake S., Wu S.M. (2016) Transcriptomic profiling maps anatomically patterned subpopulations among single embryonic cardiac cells. Developmental Cell. PMID: 27840109. *Equal contribution.

Li G., Plonowska K., Kuppusamy R., Sturzu A., Wu S.M. (2015) Identification of cardiovascular lineage descendants at single cell resolution. Development. PMCID: PMC4352984

Sharma A.*, Li G.*, Kuppusamy R.*, Hamaguchi R., Burridge P., Wu S.M. (2015) Derivation of highly purified cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells using small molecule-modulated differentiation and subsequent glucose starvation. J Vis Exp. PMID: 25867738. *Equal contribution.

Tabula Muris Consortium; Overall coordination; Logistical coordination; Organ collection and processing; Library preparation and sequencing; Computational data analysis; Cell type annotation; Writing group; Supplemental text writing group; Principal investigators. (2018) Single-cell transcriptomics of 20 mouse organs creates a Tabula Muris. Nature. PMID: 30283141.

Su T., Stanley G., Sinha R., D’Amato G., Das S., Rhee S., Chang AH., Poduri A., Raftrey B., Dinh TT., Roper WA., Li G., Quinn KE., Caron KM., Wu SM., Miquerol L., Butcher EC, Weissman I., Quake S., Red-Horse K (2018) Single-cell analysis of early progenitor cells that build coronary arteries. Nature. PMID: 29973725

Li G., Dzilic E., Flores N., Shieh A., Wu S.M. (2017) Strategies for the acquisition of transcriptional and epigenetic information in single cells. Journal of Thoracic Disease. PMID: 28446964.

Gregoire S, Li G., Sturzu AC, Schwartz RJ, Wu S.M. (2017) YY1 Expression Is Sufficient for the Maintenance of Cardiac Progenitor Cell State. Stem Cells. PMID: 28580685

Sturzu A., Rajarajan K., Passer D., Plonowska K., Riley A., Tan T., Sharma A., Engels M., Feistritzer R., Li G., Selig M., Geissler R., Xu A., Robertson K., Scherrer-Crosbie M., Domian I., Wu S.M. (2015) Fetal Mammalian Heart Generates a Robust Compensatory Response to Cell Loss. Circulation. PMID: 25995316.

Chuang W, Sharma A, Shukla P, Li G., Mall M, Rajarajan K, Abilez O.J., Hamaguchi R, Wu J.C., Wernig M, Wu S.M. (2017) Partial Reprogramming of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes into Neurons. Scientific Reports. PMID: 28327614.

Full List of Publications