Lab News

Dr. Yue Yuan won 2nd place in the Young Investigator Award competition at the 2026 Cardiovascular Science in Session in Chicago, organized by the Academy of Cardiovascular Research Excellence (ACRE) and the Chinese American Heart Association (CNAHA). Congratulations!

Dr. Adeniyi Adeleye received the BCM Dean's Award.

Graduate student Yuying Zeng won the Outstanding Pitch Talk Award and a Poster Award at the CardioFrontiers 2026 meeting in Houston, TX. Congratulations!

The Li Lab has received two new NIH R01 grants to investigate inter-organ crosstalk in atrial arrhythmogenesis.

Postdoc Dr. Tingting Li's first-author paper was published online in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology. The study shows that the LMNA-R225X mutation causes progressive AV block prior to the development of DCM, and identifies SK3 dysfunction as a novel mechanism and therapeutic target. Read more →

Congratulations to Dr. Adeniyi Adeleye for receiving an AHA postdoctoral fellowship!

After spending two years in the lab and helping out with multiple projects, Ms. Anna Shinohara has been accepted into the University of Michigan Medical School, with a full scholarship. She is on her way to becoming a physician (hopefully a cardiologist someday!). She made us proud!

Congratulations to Dr. Jifei Ding for receiving an AHA postdoctoral fellowship!

First lab newsletter released! Read the newsletter →

Our paper “Fibroblast-Restricted Inflammasome Activation Promotes Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Failure With Diastolic Dysfunction” was published in JACC: Basic to Translational Science. Read more →

Dr. Na Li received a DeBakey Research Excellence Award.

Dr. Yue Yuan won 3rd place for abstract presentation at the 38th SCBA-Texas Symposium! Congratulations!

Postdoc Dr. Yue Yuan's first-author paper was published online in the European Heart Journal (IF: 39). A milestone work! Read more →

Graduate student Yuying Zeng has successfully passed the qualifying exam and entered PhD candidacy. Bravo!

Dr. Yue Yuan won 1st prize in the poster competition at the 2nd Annual Nancy Chang, PhD Research Symposium at BCM.

Dr. Tingting Li received a postdoc fellowship award from the American Heart Association (2024–2025).

PREP scholar William Whitfield won a poster award at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) in Phoenix, AZ. Congratulations, Will! 🎉

Dr. Na Li was invited as a visiting professor to the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, giving a lecture to the WIAS graduate program and guiding local PhD students in intracardiac electrical stimulation studies.

Dr. Na Li was inducted into the Fellowship of the American Heart Association (FAHA) during the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2023 in Boston.

Dr. Na Li gave a featured presentation titled "Molecular Mechanisms of Atrial Fibrillation: New Kid on the Block" at the 5th Asian Cardiovascular Symposium (pre-meeting of BCVS-2023) in Boston.

Dr. Tingting Li received the Heart Rhythm Society Research Fellowship to investigate the molecular mechanisms of CCD.

Dr. Li attended the 19th World Congress of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology in Glasgow, UK, organizing and chairing a session titled "Emerging role of NLRP3 inflammasome as a therapeutic target in cardiovascular and infectious diseases."

Xiaolei, Jia, and Yue's paper “Downregulation of FKBP5 Promotes Atrial Arrhythmogenesis” was published in Circulation Research, highlighted by an accompanying editorial in the same journal. Read more →

Dr. Na Li received the BCM 2023 Women of Excellence Award.

Postdoc Dr. Jia Song received a poster award at the 2023 Gordon Research Conference – Cardiac Arrhythmia Mechanisms.

Postdoc Dr. Yue Yuan received a postdoc fellowship award from the American Heart Association (2023–2024).

Dr. Li received the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award.

Dr. Jia Song presented two posters at the Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, CA. Congratulations! 🎉

Dr. Li is promoted to the rank of Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Student Larry Scott Jr. successfully defended his thesis virtually. Way to go, Dr. Scott! 🎉

Li Lab received the FY21 Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) pilot award to study the mechanisms of cardiac conduction disorders.

Dr. Na Li participated in an NHLBI Atrial Fibrillation Working Group on Molecular Pathophysiology and Genetic Mechanisms as a speaker and panel discussant.

Li Lab (BCM) and McConnel Lab (UH) jointly received the BCM/UH Collaborative Pilot Grant to study cardiac repair with reprogrammed cardiac conduction cells.

Dr. Na Li received the Norton Rose Fulbright Teaching Award.

Summer students Arren Simpson (University of Detroit Mercy) and Vanessa Liu (Texas A&M) gave presentations on their summer projects to the BCM SMART Program. Congratulations!

Student Larry Scott Jr. won the best abstract award at the 6th CVRI Symposium. Congratulations!

Our work on "cardiac inflammasome and atrial fibrillation" was highlighted in Circulation.

Student Larry Scott Jr. gave an oral presentation at the BCVS Scientific Sessions in San Antonio, TX.

Dr. Li was interviewed for the publication of our first study demonstrating the involvement of cardiac inflammasome in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation.

Our work on "cardiac inflammasome and atrial fibrillation" was highlighted in Nature Reviews Cardiology.

Student Larry Scott Jr. received a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association (2017–2019).