{"id":2268,"date":"2019-03-05T19:45:36","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T00:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/ai-lab\/dr-zefan-li\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T15:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T19:18:22","slug":"dr-zefan-li","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/ai-lab\/dr-zefan-li\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Zefan Li"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research Scientist, zl2at@virginia.edu<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Office Location: <\/strong>Pinn 4017<\/p>\n

Email: <\/strong>zl2at at virginia.edu<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

My research interest is to use chemical biology, protein engineering, directed evolution, CRISPR screening, and fluorescence imaging to develop novel fluorescent protein-based biosensors for detection of various UDP-sugars dynamics and distributions in living cells, tissues, and animals. I hope those tools can be used to study glycan metabolism and its related regulatory pathways and diseases by utilizing the UDP-sugar sensors. I am also working on proximity labeling. Outside the lab, I like hiking and skating.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Current position:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research Scientist<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a001\/2023-present<\/p>\n

School of Medicine, University of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Previous Education and Professional Experiences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research Asscoiate<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a001\/2019-12\/2022<\/p>\n

School of Medicine, University of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Postdoc fellow<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a009\/2017-11\/2018<\/p>\n

Department of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing, China.<\/p>\n

Ph.D. Chemical Biology<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 09\/2011-07\/2017<\/p>\n

Department of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing, China.<\/p>\n

B.S. Chemistry\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 09\/2007-07\/2011<\/p>\n

Nanchang University, Beijing, China.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Publications:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jing Zhang, Zefan Li<\/strong>, Yu Pang, Yichong Fan, Hui-wang Ai*. Genetically Encoded Boronolectin as a Specific Red Fluorescent UDP-GlcNAc Biosensor. ACS Sensors<\/em> <\/strong>8, 2296-3003 (2023)<\/p>\n

Zefan Li<\/strong>, Hui-wang Ai*. Illuminating lactate in cells, mice, and patient samples. Cell Metabolisms<\/em><\/strong>. 35 (1), 5 (2023)<\/p>\n

Ying Xiong, Yiyu Zhang, Zefan Li<\/strong>, Md Shamim Reza, Xinyu Li, Xiaodong Tian, Huiwang Ai*. An Engineered Amber-Emitting Nano Luciferase and Its Use for Immunobioluminescence Imaging in Vivo. J. Am. Chem. Soc.<\/em><\/strong>144, 4101\u201314111 (2022)<\/p>\n

Zefan Li<\/strong>, Jing Zhang, and Hui-wang Ai*. Genetically Encoded Green Fluorescent Biosensors for Monitoring UDP-GlcNAc in Live Cells. ACS Cent. Sci.<\/em><\/strong> 7, 10, 1763\u20131770 (2021)<\/p>\n

Yaya Li, Weibing Liu, Qi Tang, Xinqi Fan, Yi Hao, Ling Gao, Zefan Li<\/strong>, Bo Cheng, Xing Chen*. Gap-Junction-Dependent Labeling of Nascent Proteins in Multicellular Networks. ACS Chem. Biol.<\/em><\/strong> 14, 2, 182-185 (2019)<\/p>\n

Zefan Li<\/strong>, Yuntao Zhu, Yuting Sun, Ke Qin, Weibing Liu, Wen Zhou, Xing Chen*. Nitrilase-Activatable Noncanonical Amino Acid Precursors as a Versatile Tool for Cell-Selective Metabolic Labeling of Proteomes. ACS. Chem. Biol.<\/em><\/strong> 11, 3273-3277 (2016)<\/p>\n

Ming Xiao, Liang Lin, Zefan<\/strong> Li<\/strong>, Jie Liu, Senlian Hong, Yaya Li, Meiling Zhen, Xuanming Duan, Xing Chen*. SERS Imaging of Cell-Surface Biomolecules Metabolically Labeled with Bioorthogonal Raman Reporters. Chem. Asian J.<\/em><\/strong> 9, 2040-2044 (2014)<\/p>\n

See Google Scholar<\/a>: https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=7c3DsrkAAAAJ&hl=en<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research Scientist, zl2at@virginia.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":819,"featured_media":1506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-associate"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\nDr. Zefan Li - Ai Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Zefan Li - Ai Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Research Scientist, zl2at@virginia.edu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/ai-lab\/dr-zefan-li\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ai Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-03-06T00:45:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-06T19:18:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/ai-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/365\/2019\/03\/zefan.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"260\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ha8m@virginia.edu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ha8m@virginia.edu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/dr-zefan-li\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/dr-zefan-li\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ha8m@virginia.edu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/513ecd39b9a003d99309d97c065fc18b\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Zefan Li\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-03-06T00:45:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-06T19:18:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/dr-zefan-li\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":349,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/dr-zefan-li\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/365\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/zefan.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Research Associate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/dr-zefan-li\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/med.virginia.edu\\\/ai-lab\\\/dr-zefan-li\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Zefan Li - 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