When Dr. Yaohang Li's parents steered him as a teenager toward a computing career, it didn't douse any of his passion for laboratory sciences. In fact, it sparked a career in which he has merged the two.
His interdisciplinary research includes computational biology. Li, who has taught full-time since 2003, uses supercomputing to try impacting biological processes, which can result in breakthroughs in bio-energy development and the drug-design industry. The latter gives other scientists more tools to potentially fight disease.
Li has delved into protein-structure prediction and function, among other things. Proteins are essential, naturally occurring Parts of all living organisms. But sometimes, humans can change a protein's structure in ways that make it more likely to bond with new disease-fighting drugs, for instance.
Li inputs protein-sequence data into computers and simulates a series of physical and chemical conditions. He analyzes the resulting protein model in order to better understand the biological processes.
Ideally, his research can be used to develop new protein-modeling programs. Computational approaches can be more efficient and less expensive than biologists, chemists and others experimenting in lab settings, Li says. "Sometimes we can do in one day by computer what might require a couple of years in a lab. It feels good knowing I might make a contribution to human health."
Still, answers don't often come quickly by computer either. Because much remains unknown about the nanoscale interactions between proteins and other elements, even computational biology can sometimes require years of research in order to reach a set of conclusions, says Li.
A current project of Li's involves investigating computational approaches that can lead to the prediction of high-resolution protein structures with a level of accuracy and reliability not currently attainable. New protein modeling tools can eventually lead to the manufacturing of additional drugs to fight conditions as varied as Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis and mad cow disease. Li has secured for this project a five-year, $400,000 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.
He has been the principal or co-principal investigator on research grants totaling more than $15.3 million.
