Dan Li MD, PhD

Dan Li received her Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in Medicine in China and was awarded a Ph.D. from Chonbuk National University (South Korea) in 2003. She then moved to the Department at Oxford to pursue post-doctoral research in Professor David Paterson’s laboratory, and she is now a University Research Lecturer.

Dan Li’s main research interest is focused on understanding how the autonomic nervous system influences cardiac function in health and disease. She developed a primary culture system of sympathetic ganglion neurons, using cellular and molecular approaches to investigate the interactions between different signaling cascades (Ca2+, nitric oxide, natriuretic peptide, cAMP, cGMP, and others) in the cytosol and the sub-organelles (mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum). She utilizes several genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors for monitoring second messengers using fluorescence microscopy and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) in living cells to understand how these second messengers impact neuronal and cardiac function.