Li, Xiaobo

XIAOBO LI
Personal Information
Project Leader
Department of Plant Biology
Carnegie Institution for Science
260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
[email protected]
Tel: 517-599-6262
Education
Aug. 2007-Nov. 2012: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Ph.D., Department of Plant Biology
Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory
Sept. 2002-Jul. 2007: Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
B.E., Department of Bioengineering
Research Experience
Nov. 2012-present, Generation of a mutant library and characterization of lipid
mutants in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Leading a team of two technicians and one bioinformatician, guided by
Martin Jonikas, Carnegie Institution for Science
Aug. 2007-Nov. 2012, Ph.D. thesis project: Molecular genetics of lipid metabolism
in algae and yeasts
Advisors: Christoph Benning and Min-Hao Kuo, Michigan State University
Jan. 2007-Jul. 2007, Bachelor thesis project: Immunogold-facilitated thermal
destruction of cancer cells
Advisor: Jiansheng Mei, Xi’an Jiaotong University
Jun. 2006-Sept. 2006, Internship: Molecular analysis of salt-tolerant Taraxacum
calli and plants
Advisor: Yinxin Li, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Teaching and Mentoring Experience
Fall 2011, Teaching Assistant at Michigan State University. Course: Fundamental
Genetics; Instructor: Dr. Barbara B. Sears.
Currently leading a team of two technicians and a bioinformatician on generation
of an indexed mutant library. Trained four undergraduates and one high
school student on biochemistry and molecular biology. By presenting their
projects, two of them won the Best Undergraduate Presentation Award on
ASPB-Midwest (Fabian Brandenburg) and 1st Place on the Contra Costa
County Science and Engineering Fair (Augustine Chemparathy) respectively.
Publications
Xiaobo Li, James G. Umen, Martin C. Jonikas. (2014) Waking sleeping algal cells.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1418295111.
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Xiaobo Li, Eric R. Moellering, Bensheng Liu, Cassandra Johnny, Marie Fedewa,
Barbara B. Sears, Min-Hao Kuo, Christoph Benning. (2012) A galactoglycerolipid
lipase is required for triacylglycerol accumulation and survival following nitrogen
deprivation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The Plant Cell. 24:4670-4686.
Xiaobo Li, Christoph Benning, Min-Hao Kuo. (2012) Triacylglycerol turnover in
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii requires a lipase with broad substrate specificity.
Eukaryotic Cell. 11(12):1451-1462.
Astrid Vieler, Guangxi Wu, Chia-Hong Tsai, Blair Bullard, Adam J. Cornish,
Christopher Harvey, Ida-Barbara Reca, Chelsea Thornburg, Rujira
Achawanantakun, Christopher J. Buehl, Michael S. Campbell, David Cavalier,
Kevin L. Childs, Teresa J. Clark, Rahul Deshpande, Erika Erickson, Ann Armenia
Ferguson, Witawas Handee, Que Kong, Xiaobo Li, Bensheng Liu, Steven
Lundback, Cheng Peng, Rebecca L. Roston, Sanjaya, Jeffrey P. Simpson, Allan
TerBush, Jaruswan Warakanont, Simone Zäuner, Eva M. Farre, Eric L. Hegg, Ning
Jiang, Min-Hao Kuo, Yan Lu, Krishna K. Niyogi, John Ohlrogge, Katherine W.
Osteryoung, Yair Shachar-Hill, Barbara B. Sears, Yanni Sun, Hideki Takahashi,
Mark Yandell, Shin-Han Shiu, Christoph Benning (2012) Genome, functional gene
annotation, and nuclear transformation of the heterokont oleaginous alga
Nannochloropsis Oceanica CCMP1779. PLoS Genetics. 8(11): e1003064.
Rachel Miller, Guangxi Wu, Rahul R. Desphande, Astrid Vieler, Katrin Gaertner,
Xiaobo Li, Eric R. Moellering, Simone Zäuner, Adam Cornish, Bensheng Liu, Blair
Bullard, Barbara B. Sears, Min-Hao Kuo, Eric L. Hegg, Yair Shachar-Hill, Shin-Han
Shiu, Christoph Benning. (2010) Changes in transcript abundance in
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii following nitrogen-deprivation predict diversion of
metabolism. Plant Physiology. 154(4):1737-1752.
Manuscripts in revision
Fantao Kong, Tomohito Yamasaki, Sari Dewi Kurniasih, Xiaobo Li, Nina Ivanova,
Shigeru Okada, Takeshi Ohama. (2014) Robust expression of heterologous genes
by selection marker fusion system in improved Chlamydomonas strains. Journal of
Bioscience and Bioengineering. In revision.
Manuscripts in preparation
Xiaobo Li*, Ru Zhang*, Weronika Patena*, Spencer S. Gang, Sean R. Blum, Nina
Ivanova, Rebecca Yue, Arthur R. Grossman, Martin C. Jonikas. Construction of an
indexed mutant library to enable reverse genetics studies of biological processes
in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In preparation for eLife. (*, equal contribution)
Xiaobo Li, Martin Jonikas. (2014) High-Throughput Genetics strategies for
identifying new components of lipid metabolism in the alga Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii. Lipids in plant and algae development. (Edited by Yonghua Li-Beisson
and Yuki Nakamura). Invited; in preparation.
Wenqiang Yang*, Tyler Wittkopp*, Xiaobo Li, Jaruswan Warakanont, Rick Kim,
Claudia Catalanotti, Eva MC Mowack, Munevver Aksoy, Sarah D’Adamo, Luke
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Mackinder, Dudley Page, Mark Heinnickel, Xenie Johnson, Alexandra Dubini, Jean
Alric, Martin Jonikas, Christoph Benning, Sabeeha Merchant, Matthew C.
Posewitz, Arthur R. Grossman. Finding the Way in the Dark: the Impact of a
Mutant in FDX5 on Growth and Membrane Structure in Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii. In preparation. (*, equal contribution)
Wenqiang Yang, Tyler Wittkopp, Claudia Catalanotti, Xiaobo Li, Matthew C
Posewitz, Arthur R Grossman. Acetate Kinase 1 is the Main Enzyme for the
Acetate Assimilation in the Dark in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. In preparation.
Witawas Handee, Xiaobo Li, Min-Hao Kuo. Intracellular triacylglycerol
accumulation is required for long-term survival of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
quiescent cells. In preparation for Proc Natl Acad Sci USA.
Patents
Christoph Benning, Xiaobo Li, Bensheng Liu, Min-Hao Kuo, Barbara B. Sears.
Method to Increase Algal Biomass and Enhance its Quality for the Production of
Fuel. US20140134685 A1.
Presentations
Oral Presentations Invited by Institutions or International Conferences
2014 The 16th International Conference on the Cell and Molecular Biology of
Chlamydomonas, Pacific Grove, CA, USA: “An indexed mutant library to
transform Chlamydomonas research”
2013 College of Life Science and Technology Seminar, Jinan University,
Guangzhou, China: “Triacylglycerol biosynthesis in microalgae”
2013 Hans Kende Memorial Lecture, MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab, East
Lansing, MI, USA: “Fatty acid export from the plastid: biochemistry, genetics
and genomics”
2011 Plant Biology-American Society of Plant Biologists, Minneapolis, MN, USA:
“Characterization of Chlamydomonas lipase candidates involved in
triacylglycerol metabolism”
2011 The First International Conference on Algal Biomass, Biofuels and Bioproducts, St. Louis, MO, USA: “Characterization of Chlamydomonas lipase
candidates involved in triacylglycerol metabolism”
2009 Gordon Research Conference-Plant lipids, Galveston, TX, USA: “Regulation
of triacylglycerol biosynthesis and degradation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii”
Poster Presentations on International Conferences
2013 Plant Biology-American Society of Plant Biologists, Providence, RI, USA:
“Use of a green algal mutant library to understand plant lipid metabolism”
2011 Symposium on Transcriptional Dynamics, Evolution, and Systems Biology,
East Lansing, MI, USA: “Characterization of Chlamydomonas lipase
candidates involved in triacylglycerol metabolism”
2010 The 14th International Conference on Chlamydomonas, Norton, MA, USA:
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“Characterization of Chlamydomonas triacylglycerol lipase candidates”
Awards and Fellowships
2013 “Hans Kende Award”, for “best dissertation” selected from all plant science
dissertations at MSU, Department of Energy Plant Research Lab
2013 “Bessey Award” for Ph.D. dissertation, MSU Department of Plant Biology
2013 Travel Grant, American Society of Plant Biologists
2011 Second Prize for oral presentation, The 9th Plant Science Graduate Student
Research Forum-basic science group, MSU
2011 “Paul Taylor Award”, MSU Department of Plant Biology
2009-2010 GEDD Fellowship, Gene Expression in Development and Disease
Focus Group, MSU
2009 Travel Fund, Gordon Research Conference-Plant lipids
2007 CNPC Scholarship, China National Petroleum Corporation
2005 “Student Leadership Prize”, Xi’an Jiaotong University
2005 Chinese Academy of Sciences Scholarship
2004-2005 National Scholarship, The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of
Education, People’s Republic of China
2004 First Prize in Contest of Advanced Mathematics of Shaanxi Province,
Mathematic Association of Shaanxi Province
Academic Service and Memberships
2013-present
Editorial Board, Plant Signaling & Behavior
2011-present
Member, American Society of Plant Biologists
Independently reviewed articles for: The Plant Cell; Plant Physiology; New
Phytologist; Plant Molecular Biology; BMC Systems Biology; Journal of Integrative
Plant Biology; Molecular Biology Reports; American Journal of Molecular Biology;
Journal of Applied Phycology; Biofuel Research Journal; BMC Research Notes;
International Conference on Systems Biology 2012 and 2013; Bio-protocol
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