Yaqi Li
DPhil student in Clinical Medicine
Brief personal statement
I am a DPhil candidate in Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford, funded by the CSC–COI Scholarship Programme. I started my DPhil in 2024 and am based in the Julian Knight Group at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics. My research focuses on immune dysregulation and hematopoietic reprogramming in sepsis.
Research Interest
I am particularly interested in the mechanisms of maladaptive myelopoiesis in sepsis, focusing on how emergency and stress-induced haematopoiesis reprogrammes haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) towards dysfunctional myeloid outputs.
My research investigates the development of immunosuppressive host responses, particularly the emergence of functionally suppressive neutrophil and monocyte populations. I aim to understand how inflammatory and metabolic signals shape these populations, whether this reprogramming establishes persistent epigenetic and transcriptional memory, and how such memory contributes to disease heterogeneity, immune paralysis, and adverse clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis.