Immunology Program

The Mengtong Li Lab

Research

Mentong Li
Mengtong Li, PhD
Lab Head

The Li Lab studies how brain circuits control immunity. Precisely calibrated inflammation is essential for organismal health. The central nervous system continuously monitors internal state and, through hard-wired pathways, can rapidly tune immune function. Our work centers on a brain–immune axis capable of coordinating inflammatory programs across the body and within the central nervous system. 

Our goals are to 1) map the interactions between nervous system and peripheral immune targets and define how neural signals shape the innate and adaptive immune responses, 2) determine how the neural circuits modulate neuroinflammation. By combining system neuroscience with immunology and inflammatory disease models in mice, our goal is to establish core principles of neuroimmune control and new therapeutic entry points for immune-related disorders.

Publications Highlights

Li, M., Tan, H. E., Lu, Z., Tsang, K. S., Chung, A. J., & Zuker, C. S. (2022). Gut–brain circuits for fat preference. Nature, 610(7933), 722-730.

Jin, H.*, Li, M.*, Jeong, E., Castro-Martinez, F., & Zuker, C. S. (2024). A body–brain circuit that regulates body inflammatory responses. Nature, 1-3. (* co-author)

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People

Mentong Li

Mengtong Li, PhD

Lab Head

  • The Li lab studies the brain-immune circuits that regulate systemic and brain immunity.
  • PhD, Peking University

Members

Julia Ashmead
Senior Research Administrative Assistant
Beibei (Bella) Fang
Beibei (Bella) Fang
Research Scholar

Achievements

  • Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholar Award-Neuroscience (2025)

Open Positions

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Career Opportunities

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Disclosures

Members of the MSK Community often work with pharmaceutical, device, biotechnology, and life sciences companies, and other organizations outside of MSK, to find safe and effective cancer treatments, to improve patient care, and to educate the health care community. These activities outside of MSK further our mission, provide productive collaborations, and promote the practical application of scientific discoveries.

MSK requires doctors, faculty members, and leaders to report (“disclose”) the relationships and financial interests they have with external entities. As a commitment to transparency with our community, we make that information available to the public. Not all disclosed interests and relationships present conflicts of interest. MSK reviews all disclosed interests and relationships to assess whether a conflict of interest exists and whether formal COI management is needed.

Mengtong Li discloses the following relationships and financial interests:

No disclosures meeting criteria for time period


The information published here is a complement to other publicly reported data and is for a specific annual disclosure period. There may be differences between information on this and other public sites as a result of different reporting periods and/or the various ways relationships and financial interests are categorized by organizations that publish such data.

This page and data include information for a specific MSK annual disclosure period (January 1, 2025 through disclosure submission in spring 2026). This data reflects interests that may or may not still exist. This data is updated annually.

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