Yanyan Li
Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences
School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Biography
Li joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University in January 2024. She received her doctorate in nutrition and food science from Ohio State University, under the co-mentorship of Duxin Sun at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and Steven Schwartz at the Ohio State University Department of Food Science. Her doctoral training was highly interdisciplinary, integrating pharmaceutical sciences and nutritional biochemistry to investigate the molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential of natural products in various types of cancer.
Li has established a multidisciplinary research program focused on understanding the gut microbiome and immune regulation in inflammatory diseases, with the overarching goal of developing microbiome-based precision strategies for disease prevention and management. Her research spans the lifespan, with particular interests in maternal-fetal and infant health and aging-associated disorders. Her work combines preclinical mechanistic studies with human intervention studies and clinical trials, integrating molecular and cellular approaches, animal models of diseases, microbiome and metabolome analyses, and translational research to investigate the roles of the microbiome and microbial metabolites in health and chronic diseases. Current research areas include the effects of maternal stress and drug exposure on early-life development and health, gut-brain interactions in aging-related disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases, and inflammation-associated tumorigenesis.
Li also collaborates with investigators across disciplines on targeted drug delivery, PK/PBPK studies, and cognitive science. Her research projects have been supported by multiple NIH and USDA/NIFA grant awards, as well as private foundations.
Education
- PhD in nutrition and food science, The Ohio State University, USA
- BS in biology, Nanjing Normal University, China
Research Interests
- Microbiome and immune regulation in inflammatory diseases
- Inflammation-associated cancer
- Maternal-fetal and infant health
- Aging-associated disorders
- Microbiome and natural products for drug discovery and development