Li Sai Ph.D.
Associate Professor
2018-present School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, China Principal Investigator
2017-2018 STRUBI, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK Senior Research Associate
2013-2017 STRUBI, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK Postdoctoral Researcher
2009-2012 Physics department, University of Goettingen, Germany Dr.rer.nat.
2006-2008 Physics department, University of Stuttgart, Germany M.S.
2002-2006 School of Physics, Wuhan University, China B.S.
Research interest
My lab focuses on cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and its application in in-situ structural biology, especially in emerging enveloped viruses.
We aim at bridging dimensions between sub-nanometer resolution structures to micrometer scale in in-situ landscapes, a soaring demand in the field of structural biology. To achieve this, we are active in developing cryo-ET methods, including: (1) high throughput cryo-ET and subtomogram averaging at near-atomic resolution; (2) cryogenic focused-ion beam milling (cryo-FIB) and (3) correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM).
We primarily use cryo-ET to study the assembly, infection and immunization of emerging enveloped viruses. We aim to find the weaknesses of these viruses, and hope to gain in situ structural and mechanistic insights into antibody and vaccine design.
Selected publications
1. Zheyuan Zhang#, Cheng Peng#, Weiping Zhang, Jiaming Liang, Ke Liu, Yong Chen, Junxia Zhang, Rui Liang, Yutong Song and Sai Li*; FlyTomo: a streamlined software for on-the-fly cryo-ET data processing and diagnosis, Nature Communications, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-75998-3
2. Hangping Yao#, Yutong Song#, Qi Huang#, Miaojin Zhu#, Jiaming Liang, Zheyuan Zhang, Xiaodi Zhang, Dongyang Dong, Danrong Shi, Zhigang Wu, Xiangyun Lu, Haibo Wu, Yong Chen and Sai Li*, Cryo-ET of IgG Bivalent Binding on SARS-CoV-2 Provides Structural Basis for Antibody Avidity. Nature Communications, 2026;17(1):5107.
3. Ye Hong, Shiyuan Liu, Rui Liang, Keren Wang, Junxia Zhang, Cheng Peng, Zefeng Zhu, Zheyuan Zhang, Weiping Zhang, Baoying Huang, Chen Song, Wenjie Tan and Sai Li*. Architecture of a portal complex embedded in the poxvirus core. bioRxiv, 2026. DOI: 10.64898/2026.06.09.730874
4. Jiaming Liang#, Cheng Peng#, Yutong Song, Zheyuan Zhang, Jingfang Yu, Xinquan Wang and Sai Li*, On-virion structural dynamics reveal temperature- and receptor-coordinated activation of an alphacoronavirus spike. bioRxiv, 2026. DOI: 10.64898/2026.01.02.697259
5. Yong Chen#, Zheyuan Zhang#, Zhirui Zhao, Hanguang Liu, Haifan Zhao, Rui Liang, Cheng Peng, Jialu Xu, Yutong Song, Xu Tan and Sai Li*. A Dynamic Oligomerization Network Coordinates Hemagglutinin-Mediated Membrane Fusion on Influenza Virions. bioRxiv, 2026. DOI:10.64898/2026.03.23.713829
6. Dongyang Dong#, Yutong Song#, Shipo Wu, Busen Wang, Cheng Peng, Weiping Zhang, Weizheng Kong, Zheyuan Zhang, Jingwen Song, Li-Hua Hou and Sai Li*, Molecular basis of Ad5-nCoV Vaccine-Induced Immunogenicity. Structure, 2025;33:1-11
7. Ye Hong#, Baoying Huang#, Junxia Zhang#, Cheng Peng, Weizheng Kong, Wenjie Tan* and Sai Li*, Molecular Architecture of Monkeypox Mature Virus. Cell Discovery, 2024;10(1):108.
8. Yutong Song#, Hangping Yao#, Nanping Wu#, Jialu Xu#, Zheyuan Zhang#, Cheng Peng, Shibo Li, Weizheng Kong, Yong Chen, Miaojin Zhu, Jiaqi Wang, Danrong Shi, Chongchong Zhao, Xiangyun Lu, Martín Echavarría Galindo and Sai Li*, In situ architecture and membrane fusion of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. PNAS, 2023;120(18):e2213332120.
9. Ye Hong#, Yutong Song#, Zheyuan Zhang and Sai Li*, Cryo-electron tomography: the resolution revolution and a surge of in situ virological discoveries. Annual Review of Biophysics, 2023;52(1):339-360.
10. Sai Li*, Cryo-electron tomography of enveloped viruses. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 2022;47(2):173-186.
11. Hangping Yao#, Yutong Song#, Yong Chen#, Nanping Wu#, Jialu Xu#, Chujie Sun, Jiaxing Zhang, Tianhao Weng, Zheyuan Zhang, Zhigang Wu, Linfang Cheng, Danrong Shi, Xiangyun Lu, Jianlin Lei, Max Crispin, Yigong Shi, Lanjuan Li* and Sai Li*, Molecular architecture of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Cell, 2020;183(3):730-738.
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# Equal contribution; * Corresponding
Contact information
Lab website：http://www.lisailab.com
Tel：+86-10-62792357
E-mail：sai@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Address: Biomedical Hall, A318. Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing
