Bio
Dr. Miaomiao Li is a R&D Associate Staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She joined Plant System Biology in the Biosciences Division in 2024. Her research integrates multi-omics data analysis with experimental biology to investigate gene regulation at the systems level. She is particularly interested in how genomic and epigenomic variation drives phenotypic diversity under lab, greenhouse, and field conditions. Using Populus as a model, and extending to bioenergy-relevant crops, her work explores the molecular determinants of plant growth and stress responses.
A central theme of her research is the identification of genomic and epigenomic signatures that underlie adaptive traits. She integrates single-cell RNA sequencing, whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, and DNA Affinity Purification Sequencing to dissect transcriptional and epigenetic dynamics at cellular resolution, enabling the identification of cell type-specific regulatory mechanisms. In parallel, she examines transcriptional regulatory networks across individual genotypes and various Populus species to better understand the coordinated regulation of gene expression under both developmental and environmental influences.