Wei Li

NIH
NEI
USA
Website

Dr. Li is currently a Senior Investigator (tenured professor) and Chief of the Retinal Neurobiology Section at National Eye Institute (NEI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). The long-term goal of his research is to study the mammalian retina as a model for the central nervous system (CNS) -- to understand how it functions in physiological conditions, how it is formed, how it breaks down in pathological conditions, and how it can be repaired. The research topics in his laboratory include: 1) Studying color pathways in the ground squirrel retina. This is an excellent model system to study cone vision, as the ground squirrel is one of the rare mammals whose retina is cone-dominated and resembles the fovea of human retina. 2) Exploring metabolic adaptation in the ground squirrel eye during hibernation. 3) Probing retina bioenergetics with a focus on mitochondria structure, function and dynamics.