• Home

• Overview

• Highlights

• Bringing Physics To Life

• Bringing Computing To Life

• Picture and Movie Galleries

• TCB Group Members

• Publications

• Research

• Software

• Outreach

Yupeng Li

Home Department: Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology

Office Address: 3115 Beckman Institute, 405 N Matthews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801

Email Address: yupengl3@illinois.edu

Education

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

• Ph.D in Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology (expected 2026)

  Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China

• B.S. in Tang Aoqing Honors Program in Chemistry (2020)

Research Interests

• Protein-ligand interactions (cytochrome P450s)
• Membrane transporter mechanisms (MmpL3, LetAB, Lpt, MPC)
• Membrane binding of peripheral proteins (Akt1 PH domain, STAT3 SH2 domain, OhyA)

Selected Publications

C. C. Santarossa, Y. Li, S. Yousef, H. S Hasdemir, C. C. Rodriguez, M. B. Haase, M. Baek, N. Coudray, J. G. Pavek, K. N. Focke, A. L. Silverberg, C. Bautista, J. Yeh, M. T. Marty, D. Baker, E. Tajkhorshid, D. C. Ekiert, and G. Bhabha. LetA defines a structurally distinct transporter family. Nature. (2026).

Radka, C.D., Grace, C.R.,Hasdemir, H.S.^*, Li, Y.^*, Rodriguez, C.C., Rodrigues, P., Oldham, M.L., Qayyum, M.Z., Pitre, A., MacCain, W.J. and Kalathur, R.C. The Carboxy Terminus Causes Interfacial Assembly of Oleate Hydratase on a Membrane Bilayer. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 300(2) (2024).

Y. Li^*, A. Acharya^*, L. Yang, J. Liu, E. Tajkhorshid, H .I. Zgurskaya, M. Jackson and J .C. Gumbart. Insights Into Substrate Transport and Water Permeation in the Mycobacterial Transporter MmpL3. Biophysical Journal. 122(11):2342-2352 (2023).

C. M. Stevens, S. O. Babii, A. N. Pandya, W. Li, Y. Li, J. Mehla, R. Scott, P. Hegde, P. K. Prathipati, A. charya, J. Liu, J. C. Gumbart, J. North, M. Jackson and H. I. Zgurskaya. Proton Transfer Activity of the Reconstituted Mycobacterium Tuberculosis MmpL3 is Modulated by Substrate Mimics and Inhibitors. PNAS. 119(30):e2113963119 (2022).

Y. Li, J. Liu and J. C. Gumbart. Preparing Membrane Proteins for Simulation Using CHARMM-GUI. Structure and Function of Membrane Proteins. 237-251 (2021).

Y. Li, J. Liu and J. C. Gumbart. Membrane Protein Tutorial.

Fellowships and Awards

• Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowship, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. (2025)
• Finalist in SCS Science Image Challenge, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. (2025)
• Biophysical Society Travel Award, Biophysical Society. (2024)
• Computational Medicinal Chemistry School Travel Grant, Schrödinger. (2024)
• Graduate College Conference Presentation Award, Graduate College, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2024)
• Biochemistry Graduate Travel Award, Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. (2022)

Gallery

Gram-negative Bacterial Lipid Transport by LetAB (Blender)

Membrane Binding of a Bacterial Virulent Factor OhyA (Blender)

Trehalose Monomycolate Transport by Mycobacterial MmpL3 (Blender)

❮ ❯