Li specialises in advanced nanomaterials in nanomedicine, oral vaccine, and RNA delivery and technollogy as well as cancer immunotherapy
Dr Li focuses on functional inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) and nanocomposite development and their applications for drug and RNA delivery, oral vaccine and nutrition, and sustainable release in agriculture.
She has developed a series of stimuli-responsive NPs (such as polymer-layered double hydroxide NPs, silica-based LDHs and polymer-calcium phosphate with dynamic properties in size, surface properties, and shapes for efficient drug and RNA delivery to target tissues. These hierarchical NP delivery systems can change their physicochemical properties triggered by pH or enzymes in the physiological environments of targeted tissues. She further constructed several functional nanocomposites for oral drug, RNA and protein delivery. By engineering the surface properties of functional nanocomposites, the functional nanocomposites facilitated the diffusion of bioactive compounds over the mucosal barriers. The main research interest is
- Engineering hybrid inorganic nanoparticles using functional polymers for combinational cancer therapies (chemo-siRNA, chemo-photothermal therapy/photodynamic therapy, etc)
- Developing core-shell organic-inorganic nanocomposites for oral vaccine and mucosal delivery
- Developing imaging-guided multimodal combination therapies for early disease diagnosis and treatment
Dr Li Li is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), the University of Queensland. She received her PhD in Chemical Engineering and worked as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UQ and UNSW from 2007 to 2009. In 2011, she returned to the AIBN after being awarded UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and continued as an Advance Queensland Mid-Career Research Fellow in 2016. She collaborated closely with industries to develop functional nanomaterials for drug and vaccine delivery to solve practical problems in animal health. Her research performance has been recognised by several distinguished awards, including Churchill Fellow, QLD International Fellowship, and ATSE Early Career Fellowship.
Collaborations
She have established broad collaborations with national and international researchers on nanomaterials and healthcare from USA, China, Switzerland and New Zealand, etc. She has a strong linkage with industry partners on the development of functional targeted nano-delivery systems to enhance the health of farm animals. She worked on RIRDC and Research Connections projects with industry parnters.
Funding
Since 2011, she has received several research grants including Advance Queensland Fellow (Mid), Queensland International Fellow
.