Over the past three decades, Prof. Li has been committed to the basic and applied research on biopharmaceuticals represented by fibrablast growth factors (FGFs). He has taken the lead in solving the technical problems of FGF protein drug formation in the world, and successfully developed three Class-I new drugs of national biological products, and one Class-III medical device.

He has published over 300 SCI papers, including Nature, Cell Metabolism, Circulation and other internationally-authoritative journals, and published seven monographs on FGFs and biopharmaceuticals. Moreover, he has obtained 70 authorized invention patens, 15 of which has been commercialized. Prof. Li has also been granted multiple national awards, including the first prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award, the second prize of National Technological Invention Award, etc.

Prof. Li is committed to the basic theoretical research and new drug development of proteins represented by FGFs. His group focuses on the research of FGF family proteins and metabolic diseases, and has enriched and improved the theory of "Growth Factor Metabolic Axis", which provides a significant foundation for the diagnosis and treatment of related metabolic diseases.