[3][4] She is a leader in understanding cellular asymmetry, division and evolution, and specifically, in how eukaryotic cells establish their distinct morphology and organization in order to carry out their specialized functions.

From 2005 to 2015, she was an Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and an affiliated Professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

In July 2015, Li was named a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University for her accomplishments as an interdisciplinary researcher and excellence in teaching.

[16] To understand the pathways that control cell motility,[17] tissue morphogenesis,[18] and neuronal development, Li monitors both physical and biochemical reactions that overlap spatially and change rapidly, but occur only locally within a complex environment.

[16] Her broad goal is to understand how eukaryotic cells establish their distinct morphology and organization in order to carry out their specialized functions with applications in development and cancer.

[19][20][21] Specifically, how eukaryotic cells generate pattern through self-organization with or without environmental cues, accomplish division or motility through coordinated structural rearrangements and force production,[22] and, when challenged with stress and roadblocks, evolve innovative solutions to main vitality and functionality.

Li has also studied the molecular mechanisms that lead to oocyte maturation,[24][25] which can contribute to “advances in the treatment of infertility and the field of regenerative medicine.”[26] Her early work with Andrew Murray at Harvard University provided the first insight into the genetic basis of the spindle assembly checkpoint.

Dorit Hanein, Niels Volkmann and Thomas D. Pollard, her laboratory helped determine the three-dimensional structure of the Arp2/3 complex in actin branch junctions.