Faculty

Xing-Fang Li Associate Professor Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry University of Alberta 10-102 Clinical Sciences Building Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2G3 Phone: (780) 492-5094 Fax: (780) 492-7800 Web :  http://www.ualberta.ca/~xingfang/home.html

Research Interests

Our research focuses on the development of new analytical techniques and their applications to clinical and environmental studies, including (1) protein-drug interactions; (2) pathogen detection, (3) biotransformation of drug and environmental contaminants, and (4) characterization of new drinking water disinfection by-products and their health effects.

Protein-drug interaction plays important roles in the mechanisms of drug action and toxicity. This is particularly important in chemotherapy because individual patients often have different responses to a chemotherapeutic. To understand inter-patient differences in treatment responses, our research focuses on characterization of protein-drug interactions and potential correlations between protein-drug complex formation and treatment outcome. This research involves development of integrated separation and mass spectrometry techniques for study of protein-drug interactions. We further study genetic polymorphism and its correlation to treatment responses to validate specific protein-drug complexes as biomarkers for predicting cancer treatment responses.

Disease outbreaks due to pathogen contamination of food and water occur frequently in developing countries and happen in affluent countries such as Canada as well. The threat of bioterrorism has also increased the need for rapid and accurate detection of pathogens. Simultaneous detection and differentiation of viable microbial pathogens at the species level is a challenge. Our research program focuses on the development of novel, effective, and reliable technologies for collection, detection, and identification of viable pathogens and applications to clinical and environmental studies.

Emerging disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water are an important public health concern. Certain DBPs, such as nitrosamines, are probable carcinogens and halogenated DBPs may lead to birth defects. To date, most research on DBPs has focused on several readily detectable DBPs, including trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs). However, the existing epidemiologic studies on these known DBPs have failed to reveal a truly plausible toxicological explanation for the relative risks estimated. It is proposed that many other unidentified DBPs may play more important roles in the health effects observed. We develop advanced analytical techniques for identification and quantification of new DBPs.  We further study human exposure to emerging DBPs and potential health effects due to the exposure. This research involves separation, mass spectrometry, and cell-based microelectronic array techniques.

Graduate Students

Jessica Boyd

Camille Hamula

Claire McGuigan

Birget Moe

Chuan Wang

Jing Zhang

Selected Recent Publications

1. Zhao, Y.; Boyd, J.; Woodbeck, M.; Andrews, R.; Hrudey, S.; Li, X.F. Formation of N-nitrosamines from eleven disinfection treatments of seven different surface waters. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, accepted.
2. Qin, F.; Zhao, Y.Y.; Sawyer, M.B.; Li, X.-F. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry determination of estrogen conjugates in human urine. Anal. Chem. DOI: 10.1021/ac702613k. Published on Web 03/19/2008.
3. Zhao, Q.; Li, X.-F. ; Le, X.C. Aptamer-modified monolithic capillary chromatography for protein separation and detection. Anal. Chem. Published on Web 0/26/2008. DOI: 10.1021/ac702567x.
4. Boyd, J.M.; Huang, L.; Xie, L.; Moe, B.; Gabos, S.; Li, X.-F. A cell-microelectronic sensing technique for profiling cytotoxicity of chemicals. Anal. Chim. Acta 6 1 5, 80-87 (2008).
5. Huang, L.; Xie, L.; Boyd, J.M.: Li, X.-F. Cell-electronic sensing of particle-induced cellular response. Analyst 133, 643 - 648 (2008).
6. Liu, Y.; Gilchrist, A.; Zhang, J.; Li, X.-F. Detection of viable but non-culturable Escherichia coli O157:H7 in drinking water and river water. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74, 1502-1507 (2008).
7. Zhang, H.; Li, X.-F. ; Le, X.C. Tunable aptamer capillary electrophoresis and its application to protein analysis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 34-35 (2008).
8. Zhang, H.; Zhao, Q.; Li, X.F. ; Le, X.C. Ultrasensitive assays for proteins. Analyst 132, 724-737 (2007). Cover feature. Also selected for inclusion in Chemical Biology virtual journal, issue 9, 2007.
9. Zhao, Y.; Boyd, J.; Hrudey, S.; Li, X.F. Characterization of new nitrosamines in drinking water using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40, 7636-7641 (2006).
10. Zhang, H.; Wang, Z.; Li, X.F .; Le, X.C. Ultrasensitive detection of proteins by amplification of affinity aptamers. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 45, 1576-1580 (2006).
11. Zhang, H.; Gong, Z.; Pui, O.; Liu, Y.; Li, X.-F . An electronic DNA microarray technique for detection and differentiation of viable Campylobacter species. Analyst 131, 907 - 915 (2006).

12. Peng, J.; Mandal, R.; Sawyer, M., Li, X.-F . Characterization of intact hemoglobin and oxaliplatin interaction using nanoelectrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Clin. Chem. 51, 2274-2281 (2005). Chem. 51, 2274-2281 (2005).