Li Feng

Biography

Li Feng is currently working as professor in the department of neurobiology and anatomy, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University. Over the years Feng Li and Li’s group have been studying the neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Recently, Li’s research is mainly focused on several projects. We chemically synthesized many small molecule drugs such as curcumin and flavonoid, and detected the effects on cultured neural cell model or animal model of Alzheimer’s diseases. We demonstrated that the chemical constitution of curcumin may be responsible for their neuroprotective action. The 4-hydroxyl group on the benzene ring may be a key group of resistance to β-amyloid (Aβ) neurotoxicity, while 3-methoxy can indirectly affect the beneficial effect of curcumin derivatives in related to suppressing 4-hydroxyl (Brain Research 2010,1361:115-123). More recently, we have been developing some new nano carriers of fluorescent quantum dots (CdSe/ZnS QDs) that are modified by the amphoteric polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG). PEG-QDs are bound to siRNAs targeting for BACE1 (β-secretase) gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease to generate QD-PEG/siRNA complexes, leading to the inhibition of Aβ synthesis in cultured nerve cells (Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids (2012)1,e20:1-10). Lately, we have established a collaboration relationship with National Center for Nanoscience and Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences to develop a new type of multi-function nano carrier for the specific therapy of Alzheimer’s disease. Now Li’s Ph.D. student Mr. sheng-liang Li has been working at Dr. Liang’s laboratory in National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in order to achieve this project. Li’s Ph.D. student Ms. Min-Juan Wang has been working at Drexel University College of Medicine, USA. for her Ph.D. thesis project until now.

Research Interest

Her researches were related to the effects of mGluR2/3 agonist on the expression and trafficking of the AMPA receptor subunits in schizophrenia and neurological disorders (PLOS ONE 2013,8(4):e61787). In short, our researches showed the advantages in drug synthesis, nano carriers and biological detection, etc. and our studies are constantly supported by multiple resources, including the NSFC grants.