Latest Li Lab News

June 3, 2019

Congratulations to Gina, Ashley, Kevin, and Savannah for their paper on deciphering the PVF NRPS specificity! You can read the paper in Biochemistry here!

April 15, 2019

We welcome new graduate student Xiaoyan (Betty) to the lab!

April 10, 2019

Congratulations to Andy for successfully defending his thesis! Good luck in Gerry Wright's lab!!

March 14, 2019

Congratulations to Ashley for successfully defending her thesis! We look forward to seeing what you'll accomplish in Doug Mitchell's lab!

January 29, 2019

Congratulations to Kevin, Andy, and Erinn for their paper rediscovering the farnesyl transferase-inhibitor Pepticinnamin! You can read the paper in ChemBioChem here!

January 7, 2019

Congratulations to Dr. Erinn O'Neill for successfully defending her thesis! We'll miss you, and good luck at Agilent!

December 7, 2018

Congratulations to Andy and Eli for their paper studying DTP antibiotics chemistry and mode of action! You can read the paper in Chemical Research in Toxicology here!

December 1, 2018

We welcome new graduate student Rachel Johnson (number 2) to the lab!

September 20, 2018

Congratulations to Erinn, Jon, and Eli for their paper discovering bacterial molecules that suppress plant immune response. You can read the paper in P.N.A.S. here! This work was also highlighted on UNC's website

August 7, 2018

Congratulations to Ashley and Gina for their discovery of N-oxygenated compounds produced from the widespread pseudomonas virulence factor pathway. You can read their paper here

June 20, 2018

We welcome new graduate students Adam and Katie to the lab!

June 13, 2018

Congratulations to Jon for earning a Ralph Bost fellowship!

June 5, 2018

Congratulations to Rachel for earning a Clare Boothe Luce fellowship! You can read more about this competetive award here.

June 1, 2018

We bid farewell to our undergrads, Martina and Savannah, as they graduate UNC and pursue their career endeavors. Thanks for all your contributions to the lab through the years!

May 21, 2018

Congratulations to Jon and Zach for their paper characterizing the biosynthesis of methoxyvinvylglycine. You can read the paper in Angewandte here.

January 1, 2018

The lab wishes a farewell to Eli, and thanks her for her hard work in the lab. We wish her good luck in her future endeavors in Italy!

November 7, 2017

Congratulations to Jon, Wenlong, Rachel, and Kevin, on their paper in Biochemistry identifying the biosynthesis of the antibiotic, bicyclomycin. You can read the paper here.

October 5, 2017

Bo has been awarded an NIH New Innovator Award! This award is granted for high risk, high reward projects. Many thanks to the NIH, and congratulations to Bo! You can read more about this on UNC's website.

July 15, 2017

Bo has been awarded a 2017 NSF CAREER award, a prestigious award given to early-career faculty who serve as academic role models in research and education. Many thanks to NSF, and congratulations to Bo!

April 7, 2017

Congratulations, Martina Knechel, for earning a summer undergraduate research fellowship!

March 30, 2017

Congratulations, Andy Chan, for being awarded the Smithwick fellowship!

January 19, 2017

Congratulations, Andy Chan, on his paper in PNAS identifying the mode of action of the class of antibiotics, dithiolopyrrolones. You can read the paper here. This paper was also featured in C&E News.

January 7, 2017

Welcome new Li Lab member, Elisabetta Massolo!

December 1, 2016

Welcome new Li Lab member, Rachel Johnson!

October 14, 2016

Bo has been named one of this year's winners of the Packard fellowship in science and engineering, awarded to the nationa's most innovative early-career scientists. Thank you to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and congratulations to Bo! You can read more about it on UNC's website.

June 25, 2016

Bo has been named one of this year's Rita Allen Foundation Scholars. This award is given to early-career biomedical scholars studying cancer, immunology, and neuroscience. Thank you to the Rita Allen Foundation, and congratulations to Bo!

Professor Bo Li

Bo was born and raised in Jilin, China. She obtained her B.S. from Beijing University and her Ph. D. in Biochemistry in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At Illinois, Bo carried out her thesis work with Prof. Wilfred van der Donk, focusing on enzymatic transformations for generating complex macrocyclic peptides. Bo conducted her postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Christopher T. Walsh at Harvard Medical School as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow. At Harvard Med, she investigated the microbial pathways for making disulfide-containing natural products and their immunity mechanisms. Bo started her position in 2013 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at UNC, Chapel Hill.