Qi-Jing Li

Chief Innovation Officer, Distinguished Principal Scientist, Professor at A*STAR

Speaker

Dr. Qi-Jing Li graduated with his B.S. degree from Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Peking University. Mentored by Dr. Manuela Martins-Green at UC Riverside, he pursuit his Ph.D. in the area of wound healing, with a focus on signal transduction and transcriptional regulation of chemokine and chemokine receptor genes. As a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellow, he was trained by Dr. Mark Davis at Stanford University, here he launched his scientific career as a T cell biologist.

Qi-Jing’s early research centered on the specificity and sensitivity of the T cell receptor (TCR). He made a series of foundational contributions by defining the minimal subunit, rate-limiting step, and sensitivity control mechanisms of TCR activation. His pioneering work also introduced microRNA into immunology, identifying miR-181a as an intrinsic master regulator of T cell sensitivity. As a Whitehead Family Foundation Scholar, he established his independent research program at Duke University, where he expanded into cancer immunology and clinical immunotherapy.

In 2022, he joined IMCB and SIgN at A*STAR Singapore. Beyond basic research, Qi-Jing has consistently translated his scientific expertise into clinical applications in immunotherapy and immune monitoring. As an applied immunologist, he has built immunogenomics profiling tools, developed AI-driven antigen-specific TCR discovery platforms, engineered T cell and NK cell-based therapeutics. He has designed and contributed to over thirty phase I/II clinical trials targeting a variety of cancers. As a serial entrepreneur, prior to joining A*STAR, he co-founded three clinical-stage companies developing CAR-T, TCR-T, and TIL platforms. More recently, he spun off a company from the IAF-PP-funded Panakeia programme to accelerate and commercialise an iPSC-derived NK platform, paving the way for cost-effective allogeneic CAR-NK therapies to advance from bench to clinic. Through these ventures, he has successfully advanced multiple therapeutic pipelines into clinical testing and drug approval.