• 1. 蛋白质设计，使其更稳定，耐温或可溶于极端的条件

• 2. 开发识别功能基因突变的有效计算方法和工具

• 3. 识别癌症基因组的功能错义突变和潜在的药物作用靶标

• 4. 基因疾病的诊断、预防和个性化治疗

李明辉教授的专业领域是计算生物学和生物信息学，主要致力于理解生物大分子间的识别机制，分析基因型与表型之间的关联，开发识别功能基因突变的有效计算方法和工具及其在癌症基因组等方面的应用。

李明辉教授在突变对蛋白质分子影响和癌症驱动错义突变研究方面积累了丰富的研究经验和优势的技术方法：（一）开发了高效、高精度的计算方法，用于估计和解释蛋白质突变的分子影响，包括突变对蛋白质之间相互作用的影响、对蛋白质-核酸之间相互作用影响、以及对蛋白质稳定性和溶解度的影响等；（二）从事癌症驱动突变的识别研究，李明辉教授课题组通过联合计算生物物理和统计学方法，针对识别癌症驱动错义突变的问题进行了全面、系统的研究，并提出基于生物物理学的新型计算手段用于鉴别驱动突变，其具有高的预测精度、广的应用维度，同时能够提供机理的解释，用以引导高成本的实验、临床研究以及药物设计工作的开展。同时李明辉课题组正在建立一个可靠的预测平台，通过分析基因变异，为癌症患者的早期诊断、预防和个性化治疗贡献力量。

科研应用：

生物技术

基因检测报告的二次解读，可以用我们开发的方法识别致癌/致病突变，推进基因疾病的诊断、预防和个性化治疗

生物制药

为开发新的生物制剂提供有价值的解决方案。生物制药公司可以使用我们的软件快速检测具有稳定性弱点的区域，识别相关突变和潜在的药物作用靶标。

食品和环境等

酶是生物催化过程中的关键，可以使用我们开发的软件优化它们的性质，使其更稳定，耐温或可溶于极端的条件，实现合理的蛋白质设计。

《临床基因组学》

《生物信息技能训练》

2019

• Anna-Leigh Brown# ,Minghui Li# , Alexander Goncearenco* , Anna R. Panchenko*.Finding driver mutations in cancer: Elucidating the role of background mutational processes.PLoS Comput Biol. PMID:31034466

2018

• Ning Zhang , Yuting Chen , Feiyang Zhao, Qing Yang, Franco L. Simonetti,Minghui Li*.PremPDI estimates and interprets the effects of missense mutations on protein-DNA interactions.PLoS Comput Biol. PMID:30533007

• Feiyang Zhao, Lei Zheng, Alexander Goncearenco, Anna R. Panchenko,Minghui Li*.Computational Approaches to Prioritize Cancer Driver Missense Mutations.International Journal of Molecular Sciences. PMID:30037003

2017 and before

• Alexander Goncearenco,Minghui Li, Franco L. Simonetti, Benjamin A. Shoemaker, Anna R. Panchenko*.Exploring Protein-Protein Interactions as Drug Targets for Anti-cancer Therapy with In Silico Workflows.Methods in Molecular Biology, In book: Proteomics for Drug Discovery. PMID:28809006

• Alexander Goncearenco*, Stephanie L. Rager,Minghui Li, Qing-Xiang Sang, Igor B. Rogozin, Anna R. Panchenko*.Exploring background mutational processes to decipher cancer genetic heterogeneity.Nucleic Acids Res. (2017 Web Server Issue).PMID:28472504

• Minghui Li#, Alexander Goncearenco#, Anna R. Panchenko*.Annotating Mutational Effects on Proteins and Protein Interactions: Designing Novel and Revisiting Existing Protocols.Methods in Molecular Biology, In book: Proteomics. PMID:28188534

• Minghui Li, Franco L. Simonetti, Alexander Goncearenco,and Anna R. Panchenko*MutaBind estimates and interprets the effects of sequence variants on protein-protein interactions.Nucleic Acids Res. (2016 Web Server Issue). PMID:27150810

• Minghui Li, Stephen C. Kales, Ke Ma, Benjamin A. Shoemaker, Juan Crespo-Barreto, Andrew L. Cangelosi, Stanley Lipkowitz*, Anna R. Panchenko*.Balancing Protein Stability and Activity in Cancer: A New Approach for Identifying Driver Mutations Affecting CBL Ubiquitin Ligase Activation..Cancer Res. PMID:26676746

• Marharyta Petukh,Minghui Li, Emil Alexov*.Predicting Binding Free Energy Change Caused by Point Mutations with Knowledge-Modified MM/PBSA Method.PLoS Comput Biol. PMID:26146996

• Minghui Li, Marharyta Petukh, Emil Alexov, Anna R. Panchenko*.Predicting the Impact of Missense Mutations on Protein-Protein Binding Affinity.J Chem Theory Comput. PMID:24803870

• Minghui Li, Benjamin A. Shoemaker, Ratna R. Thangudu, Joan D. Ferraris, Maurice B. Burg, Anna R. Panchenko*.Mutations in DNA-binding loop of NFAT5 transcription factor produce unique outcomes on protein-DNA binding and dynamics.J Phys Chem B. PMID:23734591

• Minghui Li, Wenjun Zheng*.All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of actin-myosin interactions: a comparative study of cardiac α myosin, β myosin, and fast skeletal muscle myosin.Biochemistry. PMID:24224850

• Minghui Li, Wenjun Zheng*.All-atom structural investigation of kinesin-microtubule complex constrained by high-quality cryo-electron-microscopy maps.Biochemistry. PMID:22650362

• Minghui Li, Wenjun Zheng*.Probing the structural and energetic basis of kinesin-microtubule binding using computational alanine-scanning mutagenesis.Biochemistry. PMID:21910419

• Minghui Li, Quan Luo. Xianggui Xue, Zesheng Li*.Molecular dynamics studies of the 3D structure and planar ligand binding of a quadruplex dimer.J Mol Model. PMID:20508957

• Xianggui Xue, Li Zhao, Zhongyuan Lu,Minghui Li, Zesheng Li*.Molecular dynamics simulation study on the isomerization and molecular orientation of liquid crystals formed by azobenzene and (1-cyclohexenyl)phenyldiazene.Phys Chem Chem Phys. PMID:21625705

• Li Zhao, Xuemei Duan, Xianggui Xue,Minghui Li, Zesheng Li*.Self-assembled monolayers of oligosilane on the silicon (001) surface: molecular dynamics simulations.J Mol Model. PMID:20535622

• Minghui Li, Quan Luo, Zesheng Li*.Molecular Dynamics Study on the Interactions of Porphyrin with Two Antiparallel Human Telomeric Quadruplexes.J Phys Chem B. PMID:20405878

• Minghui Li, Yihan Zhou, Quan Luo, Zesheng Li*.The 3D structures of G-quadruplexes of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors: molecular dynamics simulations in aqueous solution and in the gas phase.J Mol Model. PMID:19802725

• Minghui Li, Quan Luo, Xianggui Xue, Zesheng Li*.Toward a full structural characterization of G-Quadruplex DNA in aqueous solution: molecular dynamics simulations of four G-Quadruplex molecules.J. Mol. Struc: THEOCHEM