Principal Investigators
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources
State Key Laboratory of Mycology
CAS Key laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics(Co-established with Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, CAS)
CAS Key laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology & Immunology
The Center for Microbial Resource and Big Data-
CAS Key laboratory of Microbial Physiological and Metabolic Engineering
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Principal Investigator,Professor :

Li Ming(Deputy Director)
Address：Room H710,NO.1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
Telephone/fax：010-64807064
E-mail：lim_im@im.ac.cn
Research Interests
Our lab works on the diverse microbial defense systems, including CRISPR-Cas, prokaryotic Argonaute (pAgo), toxin-antitoxin (TA), etc., and their application in biotechnology.
1. Characterizing novel defense mechanisms and exploring the physical and functional coupling between various defense pathways, which is critical for our comprehensive understanding of microbial defense lines.
2. Exploring the defensive proteins or non-coding RNAs to develop new biotechnological tools.
3. Exploiting the defensive apparatus (like CRISPR-Cas and TA) to improve the genome editing pipelines of non-model microorganisms of industrial, environmental, or clinical importance.
Education/degrees
2008-2014, PhD, Genetics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
2004-2008, Bachelor of Science, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Work experience
2020-Present
Principle Investigator, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2017-2020
Associate Professor, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2016-2017
Assistant professor, Institute for Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2014-2016
Postdoc, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Awards
2020 The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) “Excellent Young Investigator
Publication

[1]Li M*#, Gong L#, Cheng F#, Yu H, Zhao D, Wang R, Wang T, Zhang S, Zhou J, Shmakov S, Koonin E, Xiang H*. (2021) Toxin-antitoxin RNA pairs safeguard CRISPR-Cas systems.Science. 372(6541): eabe5601.

[2] Xu Z#, Li M#, Li Y, Cao H, Miao L, Xu Z, Higuchi Y, Yamasaki S, Nishino K, Woo PCY, Xiang H*, Yan A*. (2019) Native CRISPR-Cas-Mediated Genome Editing Enables Dissecting and Sensitizing Clinical Multidrug-Resistant P. aeruginosa. Cell Reports. 29(6):1707-1717.

[3] Gong L,Li M*, Cheng F, Zhao D, Chen Y, Xiang H*. (2019) Primed adaptation tolerates extensive structural and size variations of the CRISPR RNA guide in Haloarcula hispanica.Nucleic Acids Res., 47(11):5880-91.

[4] Li M#, Gong L#, Zhao D, Zhou J, and Xiang H*. (2017) The spacer size of I-B CRISPR is modulated by the terminal sequence of the protospacer. Nucleic Acids Res., 45(8):4642-54.

[5] Cheng F, Gong L, Zhao D, Yang H, Zhou J, Li M*, Xiang H*. (2017) Harnessing the native type I-B CRISPR-Cas for genome editing in a polyploid archaeon.J. Genet. Genomics., 44(11):541-548.

[6] Wang R#, Li M#, Gong L, Hu S, Xiang H*. (2016) DNA motifs determining the accuracy of repeat duplication during CRISPR adaptation in Haloarcula hispanica. Nucleic Acids Res., 44(9):4266-77.

[7] Li M#, Wang R#, Zhao D, Xiang H*. (2014) Adaptation of the Haloarcula hispanica CRISPR-Cas system to a purified virus strictly requires a priming process.Nucleic Acids Res., 42(4):2483-92.

[8] Li M, Wang R, Xiang H*. (2014) Haloarcula hispanica CRISPR authenticates PAM of a target sequence to prime discriminative adaptation.Nucleic Acids Res., 42(11):7226-35.

[9] Li M, Liu H, Han J, Liu J, Wang R, Zhao D, Zhou J, Xiang H*. (2013) Characterization of CRISPR RNA biogenesis and Cas6-cleavage mediated inhibition of a provirus in the haloarchaeon Haloferax mediterranei. J Bacteriol., 195(4):867-75.