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Feng Li, PhD

Research Scientist in Cell Biology
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About

Titles

Research Scientist in Cell Biology

Appointments

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Education & Training

PhD
University of California at Santa Barbara (2005)
BS
Peking University (1997)

Research

Overview

Synaptic vesicle fusion is an ultrafast and highly synchronized process. In the prefusion stage, vesicles are docked and primed at the presynaptic terminal, probably through some tethering factors and the initial association of the v- and t-SNAREs, and form a ready-to-release pool. Upon the entry of calcium, the SNAREs further zipper up to induce bilayer merging, and neurotransmitters are then released from the vesicles to synaptic cleft in sub-millisecond. How this fusion achieves ultrafast kinetics and synchronicity is poorly understood. It likely involves the collaborative efforts of several proteins such as Syntaxin, SNAP25, VAMP2, Synaptotagmin, Complexin, and probably Munc18, alpha-SNAP, NSF, too. To unravel the molecular basis of this process, it requires a thorough understanding of the role of each protein as well as their interplay.

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Feng Li's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

2016

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