Yun Li

Dr. Yun Li is a neurobiologist interested in understanding human brain development and diseases. She completed graduate training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute and MIT. In 2018, Dr. Li established her independent lab in Toronto.

She is currently a Senior Scientist at SickKids Research Institute, an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, and a Medicine by Design Investigator. Her laboratory studies how the human brain forms, what makes it unique from those of other species, and how disorders like autism impact its development and function. Her group takes the experimental approach of modeling human brain development in the dish, utilizing a combination of pluripotent stem cell technology, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome engineering, and 3D brain organoids.

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