Chenxin Li, PhD
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chenxinli2.bsky.social
Chenxin Li, PhD
@chenxinli2.bsky.social
Or just “Li” |
Assist. Prof. @ Plant Bio Michigan State U. |
Also post data visualization |
Lab: https://cxli233.github.io/cxLi_lab/ |
GitHub: https://github.com/cxli233
Pinned
Here is a thread showcasing my GitHub repositories: 1) Friends Don't Let Friends Make Bad Graphs. An opinionated essay on good and bad graphs.

My popular one by a long shot with 6.4k stars and 248 forks. github.com/cxli233/Frie...
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Long in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome!
Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins.
bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG
This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected!
1/n 🧵
February 10, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Job opportunities...

Newly launched Quantitative Biology Initiative in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland, College Park seeks applications for three collaborative postdoctoral fellowships. Best consideration date 3/14.

Full Details:
umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j...
February 11, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
🚨 Positions available in Plant Science! Please share. We’re hiring:
1. Postdoc
2.PhD (UK applicants only)
Focus: root oxygen dynamics, developmental signalling. Come help us uncover how O2 shapes root development.
More info here-
sites.google.com/view/root-re...
#plantscijobs #plantscience
February 11, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Study section that was Feb got pushed back to April. I wonder what's that about...
February 11, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Ima go Mountain Bluebird for the #blue theme of #birdoftheday picked by @robcrank68.bsky.social

He knows he's pretty! He's like the blue version of that particular shade of fuchsia that makes your camera sensor freak out 😂

#birds #becurious 🪶
February 11, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Cute babies glowing babies
February 11, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Government-issued Real IDs and driver’s licenses aren’t proof of citizenship, and most people aren’t walking around with a passport.
Markwayne Mullin defends "show me your papers": "If you're here legally, there's nothing to hide. Most people already are walking around with a government-issued ID, meaning your Real ID or your driver's license. If you go board a train here, you gotta show your ID."
February 11, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
My good friend and director of the natural history museum of Denmark is looking for a curator for #bryophytes. Thus, if you like these small #plants, you should really apply. Great place to work, great city and amazing plants.

#sciencejobs #plantscijobs

www.linkedin.com/posts/nina-r...
We are hiring a Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Curator in Bryology at the National Natural History Museum Denmark, in central Copenhagen. Duties are collection-based research, curation of a… ...
We are hiring a Tenure-track Assistant Professor and Curator in Bryology at the National Natural History Museum Denmark, in central Copenhagen. Duties are collection-based research, curation of a h...
www.linkedin.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
My lab at the JIC is recruiting 3 PDRA:
🔹 Bioinformatics / AI
🔹 Molecular Biology / Genetics
🔹 Proteomics
Programme funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
📅 Closing date: 27 February
Apply via JIC website:
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/
Please share with outstanding candidates. 🙏
Postdoctoral Researcher (Charpentier Group) | John Innes Centre
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Charpentier Group at the John Innes Centre, working on cutting-edge science in the field of plant calcium signalling.
www.jic.ac.uk
February 11, 2026 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
BABYBOOM-like expression in the cowpea egg and central cellenables parthenogenesis, endosperm development, and viable haploid seed formation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.08.704694v1
February 10, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
New preprint! The same TFs can drive distinct regulatory programs depending on where they bind.

TSS → rapid stress responses

Intronic & upstream → cell-type programs

Enhancer-like CRMs → embryo/meristem programs

Coding-sequence binding → repression
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 10, 2026 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
I honestly think that's too nice to them. I think a lot of them truly hate modernity and genuinely intentionally want to make life worse for the majority of people
February 11, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Listen to this. Not a penny more for this. Abolish and prosecute anyone who had anything to do with it.
"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
February 10, 2026 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Noncanonical loops regulated by EMF1 and cohesin-associated factors shape the distinct 3D genome architecture in plants https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.08.704707v1
February 9, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
bonus : adding the inhibitor molecule increases the colored sectors
February 10, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Have you ever wondered why some petal are bicolor ? Like in dahlias or petunia ?
(Part of) the answer is in this publication :
doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
February 10, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
In our latest preprint we report the unexpected discovery of Epi-STR, an R-stereoselective ortholog of the S-selective canonical Strictosidine synthases (STRs). Found in the rather obscure plant Pogonopus specious. This work was led by my stellar student Clara Morweiser!
#natprod
#PlantScience
February 10, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Steam extracts of sassafras bark are generally 90% or more safrole by weight & smell like if heaven had a candy store.

UNFORTUNATELY, in 1960, the FDA banned any use of safrole flavorings, although a number of natural spices contain small amounts: cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper.
September 19, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
'A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitation or punishment.'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concent...
Concentration camp - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 9, 2026 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
PLETHORA3/7 controls cucumber shoot architecture

📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
by Kerstens et al.

@WileyPlantSci @merijnkerstens.bsky.social @violawillemsen.bsky.social
February 9, 2026 at 3:35 PM
#MicroscopeMonday Cross-section of a Kalanchoe marnieriana leaf, with what appears to be emerging but dormant foliar embryo (a dome) near the top.

Kalanchoe marnieriana is a facultative cloning plant, which normally does not produce plantlets but do produce plantlets when leaves are detached.
February 9, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
$1.65M per day in DC alone. That’s approximately two NIH R01 Grant *years* burned per day. Ninety *five year* R01s projects burned in the last seven months with no end in sight.

Instead of lasting scientific advance we get….what?
Civil rights violations and authoritarian replacement of democracy.
A new report from Democratic members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee finds that the deployment of the National Guard in D.C. is costing $1.65 million a day, and over seven months has hit $332 million. The report is here: hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/upl…
February 9, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Tiny plant, giant genome! 🌱🧬

We’re excited to share the final version of our paper in @GigaScience: the first complete telomere-to-telomere (T2T) assembly of the liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia.
Thanks @ncn.gov.pl

Check out the full open-access study here: doi.org/10.1093/giga...
Giant chromosomes of a tiny plant—the complete telomere-to-telomere genome assembly of the simple thalloid liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia (Jungermanniopsida, Marchantiophyta)
AbstractBackground. The liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia, a dioicous, simple thalloid species, is notable for its cryptic diversity, habitat adaptability,
doi.org
February 9, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Chenxin Li, PhD
Plants use cell-surface and intracellular receptors that collaborate to detect pathogens🦠. We discovered that a key #ubiquitin recognition event recruits both receptor types into an unexpected dual receptor complex that boost the translation of defence proteins and establishes robust #PlantImmunity👇🏾
February 9, 2026 at 9:57 AM