Yingfu Li

Yingfu Li is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University. He earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Simon Fraser University in 1997, where he discovered a DNA molecule that catalyzes porphyrin metalation, which won him Governor General Academic Gold Medal and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Doctoral Prize, both in 1998. He was awarded a Medical Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow in 1999 and carried out his postdoctoral research at Yale University between 1997-1999, where he studied a series of catalytic DNA molecules for DNA phosphorylation, DNA capping and DNA ligation. In November 1999, he joined McMaster University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005 and Full Professor in 2010. At McMaster, he has established a research group focusing on artificial nucleic acid molecules with catalytic and/or binding properties. He has published extensively in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular evolution of nucleic acids, including over 200 research and review articles, over 20 book chapters, 1 book. He has filed over 30 patents on functional nucleic acids and diagnostic tests. He has also served as an Associate Editor of Journal of Molecular Evolution and as a member of editorial board of Scientific Reports, and Analysis and Sensing. He has received several recognitions, including Canada Research Chair, New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institute of Health Research, Premier Research Excellent Award from Ontario Government, McBryde Medal from Canadian Society of Chemistry.