Li obtained his PhD degree from Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences followed by postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University before joining Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in 2007. His research mainly focuses on stem cells and embryonic development. He has made fundamental contributions to the establishment of androgenetic haploid embryonic stem cells (also termed sperm-like stem cells or artificial spermatids) that can be used as sperm replacement for efficient production of semi-cloned mice (so called SC technology). Li has made great efforts to promote the applications of SC technology and shown that it can be used for complex genetic analyses in mice, including efficient generation of mouse models carrying defined point mutations related to human developmental defects; one-step generation mouse models that mimic multiple genetic defects in diseases; and targeted screening of critical genes or nucleotides of a specific gene involved in a developmental process. Recently, Li initiated a project to tag every protein in mice based on SC technology (genome tagging project, GTP), which may enable the precise description of protein atlas in mice.

Huang has made fundamental contributions to dynamics of nonlinear systems, neuromorphic computing, intelligent control and smart grid. Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, academician of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the International Association for Pattern Recognition, and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association, he is Highly Cited Researcher named by Clarivate Analytics, and distinguished lecturer of IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. Huang received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Asia Pacific Neural Networks Society; the Changjiang chair professorship awarded by China’s Ministry of Education; the Best Research Project Award presented by Qatar National Research Fund; and The Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, the highest honor bestowed by Texas A&M University to its faculty, among others.