Dr. Li Ma

Biography

Li Ma received his PhD from the University of Science and Technology of China, where he studied tumor cell apoptosis and identified a novel E3 ligase. After completing his postdoctoral training, he served as an Associate Research Scientist at New York University Langone Medical Center and as a Research Associate at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. His research predominantly focuses on cancer biology, particularly protein post-translational modification. In 2014, he joined Dr. Eric M. Morrow’s laboratory at Brown University, where he studied rare childhood neurogenetic disorders that lead to defects in neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration, with a specific focus on Christianson syndrome. Dr. Ma employs various techniques, including cell cultures, induced pluripotent stem cell models, differentiation of stem cells into two-dimensional neuronal cultures, and three-dimensional organoids, as well as animal models. He is a key leader in Morrow's laboratory using induced pluripotent stem cell technology to study different rare childhood neurogenetic disorders and plays a central role in leading human stem cell efforts at the Brown University Center for Translational Neuroscience within the Carney Institute of Brain Science. In 2023, he was appointed Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry at Brown University.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards