Dan Li

Dan Li received her Bachelor and Master’s degree in Medicine in China and was awarded a PhD 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.

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 signalling cascades (Ca²⁺, nitric oxide, natriuretic peptide, cAMP, cGMP and other) in the cytosol and the sub-organelles (mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum). She utilises several genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors for monitoring second messengers using fluorescence microscopy and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) in living cells to understanding how these second messengers impact on neuronal and cardiac function.