Wen-Hsiung Li

Wen- Hsiung Li (李文雄; * 1942 in Taiwan ) is a Taiwanese -American geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. As a leading researcher in the field of molecular and human evolution, he worked with at the DNA sequencing of the human genome in the Human Genome Project.

His main research interests are:

  • Genetic basis and evolution mechanisms for color vision in mammals
  • Exploration of Junk DNA
  • Development of statistical methods, and computer programs for the analysis of protein and DNA sequences
  • Molecular evolution, molecular distance and molecular clock: the transition speed of the molecular clock depends on the succession of generations. The shorter the generations, the faster the clock. The clock runs five times faster for rats and mice and in monkeys and man.
  • Influence of gender on the Evolution: The mutation rate in males (higher primates, rodents) larger than in female.
  • Differences between chimps and humans are much lower than expected (2001)
  • Exploration of the co-evolution at the molecular level ( co-evolution of the growth hormone and its receptors )
  • Evolution of gene regulation
  • Gene duplication, Evolution of duplicate genes

Life

Wen- Hsiung Li was born in 1942 in Taiwan. In 1968 he received a M. S. in Geophysics from the National Central University in Taiwan. In 1972 he achieved his Ph.D. in applied mathematics / genetics at Brown University in Providence Rhode Iceland. From 1972 to 1973 he worked at the University of Wisconsin -Madison (genetics ). In 1973 he moved to the University of Texas, where he was in 1984 appointed professor. Since 1998 he worked at the University of Chicago.

Honors, Memberships

  • Academia Sinica in 1998
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1999
  • President of the ' Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution ', 2000
  • National Academy of Sciences, 2003
  • Balzan Prize 2003 for Genetics and Evolution; Li is replaced by Sewall Wright (1984) and John Maynard Smith ( 1991) as the third evolutionary biologist the Balzan Prize.

Works

  • Editor of the journal ' Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution ' since 1991
  • Molecular Evolution 1997 User Guide
  • Co-editor of the ' Journal of Molecular Evolution' since 1998
  • Editor of the journal ' genes ' 1997-2001
  • Geneticist
  • Evolutionary biologist
  • Member of the Academia Sinica
  • Chinese
  • Americans
  • Born in 1942
  • Man
Taiwan under Japanese rule Noncoding DNA Rhode Island Integrated Authority File
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