Lydia Li

At Johns Hopkins, Lydia Li is a lecturer in the MS in Biotechnology program.

Li has taught a range of biology courses to broad student populations including undergraduate laboratory students, post-baccalaureate pre-medical students, high schoolers, and K-12 children in community outreach workshops. She is particularly passionate about teaching stem cell biology, molecular biology, developmental biology, and genetics.

Li currently leads and develops an internship program at a college preparatory high school where she plays a vital role in providing students with meaningful, hands-on experiential learning opportunities and a pathway in STEM. She advises and trains students in laboratory research and has developed and led workshops introducing developmental biology and biotechnology concepts to aspiring scientists in the local community.

Li earned her PhD in Biology at Johns Hopkins, where she investigated signaling networks that regulate adult stem cell renewal and expansion – key processes underlying tissue regeneration and repair. She received her BA in Molecular and Cell Biology at University of California, Berkeley, where she studied double-stranded DNA breaks during immune cell development. She also made discoveries in the signaling factors important for neural progenitor expansion and neural tissue growth during her work at San Francisco State University. While working at the United States Department of Agriculture, Li conducted research on plant disease resistance, molecular triggers of flowering and plant protein characteristics. Her collaborative research efforts have led to peer reviewed publication across multiple fields including stem cell biology, immunology, plant biology, neurobiology, and genetics.

Li was the recipient of the Gloria Spencer Women’s Association Scholarship, the Nelson Scholarship, and the Maxwell Scholarship. Outside of scientific pursuits, she enjoys taking courses at Maryland Institute College of Art to develop her visual arts practice.