Li Ding, PhD

Li Ding, PhD

David English Smith Distinguished Professor of Medicine; Section Director – Computational Biology

Address:
Room 4186-B
4444 Forest Park Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63108

Research Interests
  • Cancer genomics and proteomics
Research

Dr. Ding has extensive experience in cancer genetics/genomics. She successfully led and completed the integrated analysis of a multi-institute study on the genomics of lung adenocarcinomas and identified key genes and pathways leading to lung cancer. In addition, Dr. Ding worked with Drs. Timothy Ley, Richard Wilson, and Elaine Mardis to analyze the tumor and skin genomes of a patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the first cancer genome that has ever been fully sequenced and analyzed. Further, Dr. Ding led the analysis of several cancer metastasis/relapse studies including the genome remodeling of a basal-like breast cancer and the clonal evolution of relapsed AML. Dr. Ding’s research focuses on identifying and characterizing somatic/germline genetic changes relevant to cancer initiation and progression as well as drug response by integrating various data types including DNA, RNA, and proteomics data. Dr. Ding is also interested in developing algorithms to facilitate the translation of genomic findings to clinical practice.

Dr. Ding leads The Genome Institute’s Medical Genomics group, consisting of biologists, bioinformaticians, mathematicians, and statisticians. Dr. Ding’s team has developed a suite of variant detection and interpretation tools including VarScan, SomaticSniper, CMDS, BreakDancer, BreakFusion, PathScan, and MuSiC; many of them are widely used by the research community and have been applied in several large-scale projects such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP).

Dr. Ding received a BS degree from Fudan University, a PhD from the University of Utah under Dr. Stephen Prescott’s guidance, and did her postdoctoral research in the Biochemistry Department at Stanford University. Prior to her move to St. Louis, Dr. Ding was at Incyte Genomics, where she used in silico approaches to discover novel drugable genes and identify gene expression changes during development and disease progression.

The Genome Institute
Ding lab
Profiles (publications)

Biosketch

Education

  • 2000-1998: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA
  • 1998: PhD in Biochemistry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT
  • 1991: BS in Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Academic Positions & Employment

  • present-2016: Director of Computational Biology, Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • present-2015: Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • present-2008: Assistant Director, McDonnell Genome Institute, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • 2015-2012: Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • 2012-2009: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • 2012-2005: Group leader, Medical Genomics Group, The Genome Institute, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • 2009-2005: Research Instructor, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • 2005-2002: Special Project Leader, Analysis Group, The Genome Institute, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
  • 2002-2000: Scientist II, Incyte Genomics, Palo Alto, CA

Other Experience & Professional Memberships

  • Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • Member, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
  • Member, American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
  • Research Member, Siteman Cancer Center
  • Reviewer, Cancer Research UK
  • Review Panel, UK-ICGC program (prostate and oesophagus projects)
  • Source Evaluation Group, NCI Cancer Genomics Data Commons
  • Review Panel/Reviewer, NIH Cancer Genetic Study Section
  • Review Panel/Reviewer, NIH Microbiome Sciences and the Associated Informatics SEP
  • Co-chair, ICGC Pan Cancer Mutation Calling Group
  • Co-chair, TCGA Pan Cancer Atlas Oncogenic Process Group
  • Co-chair, TCGA Sarcoma Analysis Working Group
  • Steering Committee Member, Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC)
  • Member, CPTAC Data Analysis Working Group
  • Co-chair, Pan Cancer Atlas Germline Group
  • Co-chair, Pan Cancer Atlas Driver Group
  • Steering Committee Member, NCI Genomic Data Commons (GDC)

Honors

  • 2015: Chair for TCGA Fourth Annual Scientific Symposium, NIH
  • 2014: Chair for Genomic Alterations of Tumors Session, American Society of Human Genetics
  • 2014: The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014, Thomson Reuters
  • 2013: The Hottest Scientific Researchers of 2012, Thomson Reuters
  • 2010: Chair for Functional and Cancer Genomics Session Session, The Biology of Genomes
  • 2011: Chair for Population and Personal Genomics Session, Genome Informatics
  • 2008: Tomorrow’s PI, Genome Technology