Dr. Li focuses on how cells become cancerous when they have an abnormal number of chromosomes or broken parts of a chromosome. The centromere, which joins two arms of a chromosome, is essential for faithful chromosome segregation during cell division and genome stability. When chromosomes fail to be delivered correctly to each new cell, the abnormal chromosomes may form “neocentromeres” which have been discovered in developmental disorders and cancer. Dr. Li is developing tools to examine and manipulate these neocentromeres, which may lead to a better understanding of how cancer cells evolve and potentially novel anti-tumor strategies.