Li Mengxi (Maxine)

Profile of Li Mengxi (Maxine), a current PhD student in the Chris French Lab.

Headshot of Maxine smiling with trees in the background.

Project summary

Project title: Development of tools for information processing in transcriptional biosensors.

In this project, we will take advantage of recent discoveries in molecular biology to develop novel tools, such as nucleic acid-based logic gates, for processing inputs from transcriptional sensing systems to generate clear and simple visual and electrical outputs which can be used to generate biosensors for a variety of purposes.

About me

Before moving to Edinburgh, I have got a BEng in Bioengineering from Shanxi University, China, a Diploma in Food Studies from University College Cork (UCC), Ireland and an MSc in Molecular Cell Biology and Bioinnovation from UCC. During my undergraduate study, I have done some studies on biosensor development, but they were mostly molecularly imprinted biosensors. When doing my master, I was involved in a project to characterise a special form of truncated tau protein in Alzheimer's disease.

In my free time, I prefer to travel around, read novels and sometimes do some cooking.

Career timeline.
Year Role
2019 - Present PhD student, University of Edinburgh, UK.
2017 - 2018 MSc in Molecular Cell Biology and Bioinnovation, University College Cork, Ireland.
2016 - 2017 Diploma in Food Studies, University College Cork, Ireland.
2013 - 2017 BEng in Bioengineering, Shanxi University, China.