Cell scientist to watch – Vivian Li

Vivian Li obtained her PhD from the University of Hong Kong in 2008, where she investigated the molecular mechanisms of human colonic development and tumorigenesis. Funded by a Croucher Foundation Fellowship, she joined the lab of Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands for her postdoctoral work. There, she identified novel Wnt signalling mechanisms at different subcellular levels and characterised intestinal stem cell genes using newly created transgenic mouse models. Vivian established her group at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research, which is now part of the Francis Crick Institute, London, in February 2013. In her lab she uses genetic mouse models and organoids to investigate the regulation of intestinal homeostasis and cancer with a primary focus on the Wnt signalling pathway. Vivian was awarded a Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize in 2018 by Cancer Research UK and is the winner of the 2021 Women in Cell Biology Early Career Medal awarded by the British Society for Cell Biology.