Council Dates: October 2009 - May 2010
Mufeng Li was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Ion Channel Structure and Function in the Intramural Program of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In the laboratory of Dr. Kenton Swartz, her research focused on P2X receptors, which play key roles in processes as diverse as synaptic transmission, pain sensation, and inflammation. Specifically, her project aimed to determine how the structure of the pore in P2X receptors changes during opening, whether there is dynamic selectivity of P2X receptrs, and if P2X receptors share similar gating mechanisms with other trimeric channels. Understanding the operation of these proteins at a molecular level could inform the development of future rational drug design.
She earned her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, and her B.S. in Biology from Southwest University in China.