Research Project 1, MISM
Research Associate Senior, Duke
Jonathan Li is a senior research associate in School of Medicine, Department of Surgery at Duke University. He is highly trained in protein science, specifically in structural biology and biophysics. He obtained his PhD in 2017 and has accumulated more than 15 years of research experience. He is especially interested in how protein functions and protein interactions are influenced by protein dynamics, i.e., the flexibility and movements in the protein structures.
In his current role, Jonathan Li focuses on using biophysical tools to characterize the interactions between antibodies and antigens and between antibodies and Fc receptors, in order to accelerate the design for new vaccines and the development of new prophylaxis options for infectious diseases. Through binding kinetics measurements using platforms such as surface plasmon resonance (SPR), Jonathan has characterized the binding affinities and binding specificities of antibodies for multiple infectious diseases, including COVID-19, malaria, flu, and HIV AIDS.
Jonathan Li has also developed and optimized computational tools to automate the analysis of binding kinetics data. For example, he developed a reliable tool to analyze data generated on high-throughput SPR instruments while minimizing the need for users to manually interact with the software interface. He also programmed the polyclonal antibodies avidity resolution tool (PAART) to dissect polyclonal antibody binding responses to antigens.