Dr. Cong Li obtained his Ph.D from The University of Hong Kong in 2004 and was trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the Johns Hopkins University from 2005 to 2008. He was pointed as an Associate Professor in School of Pharmacy, Fudan University in 2009. Dr. Li was promoted as a full professor in 2013. Currently, he is the director of Dept. of Radiopharmacy and Assistant Dean. His research focuses on “Molecular Imaging & Imaging Probes”. He has published 40 SCI paper as the first or corresponding author in tumor diagnosis and image-guided tumor surgery. Dr. Li was named by Ministry of Education as a New Century Talent. He was also enrolled in the “Dawn talent program” by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. His representative work “Brain drug delivery by tuning blood brain barrier permeability” was awarded the Second Prize of National Science & Technology Progress Award (2nd rank).
Molecular imaging; Imaging probe; Brain tumor; Image-guided surgery; Tumor microenvironment
Education
2001-2004 Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong
1997-2000 M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Wuhan University
1993-1997 B.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, Wuhan University
Employment
Jan 2014-present Professor, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Dec 2008-Dec 2013 Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Apr 2005-Dec 2008 Postdoctoral fellow, Dept. of Radiology, Medical School of Johns Hopkins University
Awards and Honours
1. Young Scientific Talents of Shanghai, 2016
2. “Dawn Scholar” Program of Shanghai Education Commission, 2015
3. Zhang Jiang Excellent Talents, 2015
4. Second Class Prizes of The State Scientific and Technological Progress Award, 2015
5. Second Class Prizes of Shanghai Scientific and Technological Progress Award, 2014
6. New Century Excellent Talents of Ministry of Education of China, 2013
7. First Class Prizes of The Scientific and Technological Progress Award of Education Ministry of China, 2011
Publications 38 papers as corresponding or first author. The majority published in high quality, high impact journals such as Adv. Mater., ACS Nano, Adv. Funct. Mater., Chem. Sci., Theranostics, J. Cereb. Blood Flow & Metab., Int. J. Cancer etc.
Total Impact Factor (IF) 274, average IF: 7.2, total citations: 1140.
Funding
1. National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI) (2018 – 2021)
2. National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI) (2016 – 2019)
3. National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI) (2014 – 2017)
4. National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI) (2012 – 2015)
5. National Natural Science Foundation of China (PI) (2010 – 2012)
6. Animal Model Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (PI) (2015 – 2017)
7. Nanomedicine Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (PI) (2013 – 2016)
8. New Century Excellent Talents, Ministry of Education (PI) (2013 – 2015)
Administration/Management
1. Deputy Secretary General, Biological Photonics Committee, Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering
2. Committee Member, Brain Tumor Committee, Chinese Medical Doctor Association
3. Committee Member, Molecular Imaging Committee, Chinese Society of Biophysics
4. Vice Director, Nuclear Medicine and Nuclear Pharmacy Committee, Shanghai Nuclear Society
Invited International Presentation
1. Title: Nanoagonist-mediated endothelial tight junction opening: a strategy increasing brain, 28th Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Function, Apr. 1st?4th, 2017
2. Title: Selective imaging and ablating cancer cells via pH switchable near-infrared fluorescence and photothermal probes, 2nd International Caparica Congress on Chromogenic and Emissive Materials, Sep 5th?8th, 2016
3. Title: Imaging tumor acidic microenvironment by a pH-responsive near-infrared fluorescence probe, World Molecular Imaging Conference 2014, Sep. 17th?20th Jun, 2014
Research Group
1. Previous: 1 PhD and 6 MSci students
2. Current: 3 PhD, 4 MSci.
Research Interests and Track Record
Dr. Cong Li’s research focuses on the frontier of “Molecular Imaging & Imaging Probes”. He developed a series of multimodal imaging probes and brain drug delivery strategies in diagnosis and treatment of malignant brain tumor and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases including ischemic stroke and epilepsy. His major research achievements include: (1) strategies tuning blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability with high safety and efficiency; (2) theranostic probes monitoring brain drug delivery and therapeutic response; (3) stimuli responsive probes imaging tumor microenvironment and guiding intra-operative brain tumor surgery.
Publication List
Journal Papers and Reviews
1. Image-guided chemotherapy with specifically tuned blood brain barrier permeability in glioma margins. Xihui Gao, Qi Yue, Yikang Liu, Dandan Fan, Kun Fan, Sihan Li, Jun Qian, Limei Han, Fang Fang, Fulin Xu, Daoying Geng, Liang Chen*, Xin Zhou, Ying Mao and Cong Li*, Theranostics, 2018, 8(11), 3126-3137. IF = 8.776
2. Bespoke Ceria Nanoparticles Show a Neuroprotective Effect by Modulating Phenotypic Polarization of the Microglia. Feng Zeng, Yingwei Wu, Xinwei Li, Xiaojiao Ge, Qinghua Guo, Xiaobing Lou, Zhonglian Cao, Bingwen Hu, Nicholas J. Long, Ying Mao and Cong Li*. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2018, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201802309, IF: 11.997
3. Guiding brain tumor surgery via blood-brain barrier permeable gold nanoprobes with acid triggered MRI/SERRS signals. Xihui Gao#, Qi Yue#, Zining Liu, Mengjing Ke, Xingyu Zhou, Sihan Li, Jianping Zhang, Ren Zhang, Liang Chen, Ying Mao and Cong Li*. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(21), 1603917. IF = 18.960; Time Cited 3.
4. Noninvasively Imaging Subcutaneous Tumor Xenograft by a Handheld Raman Detector, with the Assistance of an Optical Clearing Agent. Yunfei Zhang#, Haoran Liu, Jiali Tang, Zhuoyun Li, Xingyu Zhou, Ren Zhang, Liang Chen, Ying Mao*, and Cong Li*. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017, 9 (21), 17769-17776. IF=7.504
5. Edaravone-encapsulated agonistic micelles salvage/rescue ischemic brain tissue by tuning blood-brain barrier permeability. Qu Jin#, Yu Cai#, Sihan Li, Haoran Liu, Xingyu Zhou, Chunqiang Lu, Xihui Gao, Jun Qian, Jun Zhang, Shenghong Ju* and Cong Li*. Theranostics, 2017, 7(4), 884?898. IF = 8.854; Time Cited 2
6. Nanoagonist-mediated endothelial tight junction opening: A strategy for safely increasing brain drug delivery in mice. Xihui Gao#, Yuan-Cheng Wang#, Yikang Liu, Qi Yue, Zining Liu, Mengjing Ke, Shengyuan Zhao and Cong Li*. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2017, 37(4), 1410-1424. IF = 4.929; Time Cited 2
7. Selective imaging and cancer cell death via pH switchable near-infrared fluorescence and photothermal effects. Jingye Zhang#, Zining Liu, Peng Lian, Jun Qian, Xinwei Li, Lu Wang, Wei Fu, Liang Chen, Xunbin Wei* and Cong Li*. Chemical Science, 2016, 7(9), 5995–6005. IF = 9.144; Time Cited 2
8. Salvaging brain ischemia by increasing neuroprotectant uptake via nanoagonist mediated blood brain barrier permeability enhancement. Shuyan Zheng#, Ying-Ying Bai#, Yikang Liu, Xihui Gao, Yan Li, Yinzhi Changyi, Yuancheng Wang, Di Chang, Shenghong Ju* and Cong Li*. Biomaterials, 2015, 66, 9?20. IF = 8.387; Time Cited 11
9. Evaluating tumor metastatic potential by imaging intratumoral acidosis via pH-activatable near-infrared fluorescent probe. Lu Wang#, Zhichao Fan#, Jingye Zhang, Yinzhi Changyi, Cuiyun Huang, Yanjuan Gu, Ziyao Xu, Zhijia Tang, Weiyue Lu, Xunbin Wei* and Cong Li*. International Journal of Cancer, 2015, 136(4), E107?E116. IF = 5.531; Time Cited 16
10. Multi-parametric imaging of the invasiveness-permissive acidic microenvironment in human glioma xenografts. Cuiyun Huang#, Huan Qin, Jun Qian, Jingye Zhang, Shengyuan Zhao, Yinzhi Changyi, Bingbing Li, Jianping Zhang, Jianhua Zhu, Da Xing, Sihua Yang* and Cong Li*. RSC Advances, 2015, 5(69), 55669-55677. IF = 3.289
11. Overcoming the blood-brain barrier for delivering drugs into the brain by using adenosine receptor nanoagonist. Xihui Gao#, Jun Qian, Shuyan Zheng, Yinzhi Changyi, Jianping Zhang, Shenghong Ju*, Jianhua Zhu and Cong Li*. ACS Nano, 2014, 8(4), 3678?3689. IF = 12.881; Time Cited 41
12. Nanoprobes visualizing gliomas by crossing the blood brain tumor barrier. Xihui Gao# and Cong Li*. Small, 2014, 10(3), 426-440. IF = 8.368; Time Cited 26
13. Multimodal nanoprobes evaluating physiological pore size of brain vasculatures in ischemic stroke models. Shuyan Zheng#, Ying-Ying Bai#, Yinzhi Changyi, Xihui Gao, Wenqing Zhang, Yuancheng Wang, Lu Zhou, Shenghong Ju* and Cong Li*. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 2014, 3(11), 1909-1918. IF = 5.797; Time Cited 4
14. Image-guided pro-angiogenic therapy in diabetic stroke mouse models using a multi-modal nanoprobe. YingYing Bai#, Xihui Gao, YuanCheng Wang, XinGui Peng, Di Chang, Shuyan Zheng, Cong Li* and Shenghong Ju*. Theranostics, 2014, 4(8), 787-797. IF = 8.022; Time Cited 19
Up-regulating blood brain barrier permeability of nanoparticles via multivalent effect. Xihui Gao#, Jun Qian#, Shuyan Zheng, Ying Xiong, Jiahao Man, Binxin Cao, Lu Wang, Shenghong Ju* and Cong Li*. Pharmaceutical Research, 2013, 30(10), 2538-2548. IF = 3.952; Time Cited 26
