2005年本科毕业于复旦大学，2011年博士毕业于中科院上海生命科学院生化细胞所。2012年以博士后身份先后在西南医学中心(UT Southwestern Medical Center)和克利夫兰诊所(Cleveland Clinic Foundation)Nima Sharifi实验室从事前列腺癌相关研究。2012年获美国国防部DOD PCRP Fellowship; 2015年获得Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award。2016年11月加入中科院上海生科院生化与细胞所，任研究员、研究组长。

　　我国前列腺癌死亡率和发病率增长迅猛。晚期前列腺癌进展伴随着癌细胞和机体环境中糖、脂、甾体代谢重塑。本实验室的工作主要致力于解析疾病进展过程中肿瘤代谢特征，鉴定肿瘤代谢重塑过程中关键代谢酶和代谢物，并基于机制研究探索前列腺癌诊治新策略。实验室前期描绘了我国前列腺癌患者组织代谢特征(JSBMS，2021)，发现了前列腺癌治疗耐受相关的新的药物代谢产物(Nature，2015&2016)，鉴定了前列腺癌进展相关的新促癌代谢物(CRM，2022a)，并且通过机理研究和结构研究解析了前列腺癌疾病进展的多种机制(CCR，2019;NC，2021)。基于上述理论研究，实验室发现了多个潜在的指导患者用药的预测型生物标志物(Prostate，2022; CRM，2022a)，确认了前列腺癌治疗的新靶点并筛选出了有临床应用潜能的先导化合物(CRM，2022b)。多项研究者发起的临床试验正在推进中。

　　通过以上研究，实验室致力于开发能够适用于我国前列腺癌患者的诊治新策略，推动更精细的病人分层和个性化的治疗策略。

1. Qilong Tan ^#, Ziqun Liu ^#, Xiaobo Gao ^#, Yibo Wang ^#, Xuefeng Qiu, Jiahui Chen, Liuchun Liang, Hongqian Guo, Shengsong Huang, Denglong Wu,Bing Zhou*, Ronggui Hu*, Zhenfei Li* Celastrol recruits UBE3A to recognize and degrade the DNA binding domain of steroid receptors. Oncogene. Sep 16. doi: 10.1038/s41388-022-02467-8.
2. Tao Yang^#, Ying Liu^# , Shuzhen Chen, Jiale Tian, Xuyou Zhu, Long Zhang, Wei Wang, Yingyi Qin, Jens Richter, Aseem Anand, Chengdang Xu, Yongnan Chi, Chenyang Wang, Cuidong Bian, Denglong Wu, Zhenfei Li*, Shengsong Huang*. Serum prolactin level as a predictive factor for abiraterone response in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Prostate. 2022 Sep; 82 (13):1284-1292. doi: 10.1002/pros.24402. 
3. Zejie Mei^#, Tao Yang^#, Ying Liu, Yuanyuan Gao, Zemin Hou, Qian Zhuang, Dongyin He, Xuebin Zhang, Qilong Tan, Xuyou Zhu, Yingyi Qin, Xi Chen, Chengdang Xu, Cuidong Bian, Xinan Wang, Chenyang Wang, Denglong Wu, Shengsong Huang*, Zhenfei Li*. Management of prostate cancer by targeting 3βHSD1 after enzalutamide and abiraterone treatment. Cell Reports Medicine. 2022 May 17; 3(5):100608. DOI:10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.10060.
4. Zemin Hou^#, Shengsong Huang^#, Zejie Mei^#, Longlong Chen^#, Jiacheng Guo, Yuanyuan Gao, Qian Zhuang, Xuebin Zhang, Qilong Tan, Tao Yang, Ying Liu, Yongnan Chi, Lifengrong Qi, Ting Jiang, Xuefeng Shao, Yan Wu, Xiaojun Xu, Jun Qin, Ruobing Ren, Huiru Tang* Denglong Wu*, Zhenfei Li*. Inhibiting 3bHSD1 to eliminate the oncogenic effects of progesterone in prostate cancer. Cell Reports Medicine. 2022 March; 3 (3), 100561.
5.  Zemin Hou, Shengsong Huang, Zhenfei Li. Androgens in prostate cancer: A tale that never ends. Cancer Lett. 2021, 516:1-12; doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2021.04.010.
6. Zemin Hou^#, Tao Yang^#, Zejie Mei, Si Zhang, Yuanyuan Gao, Xi Chen, Qilong Tan, Xuyou Zhu, Chengdang Xu, jianpo Lian, Cuidong Bian, Ying Liu, Wei Le, Nazarov Hydyr, Denglong Wu, Luonan Chen, Shengsong Huang*, Zhenfei Li*. Tracing steroidogenesis in prostate biopsy samples to unveil prostate tissue androgen metabolism characteristics and potential clinical application. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol.  2021 Jun; 210:105859. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2021.105859.
7. Yufei Han^#, Qian Zhuang^#, Bo Sun^#, Wenping Lv^#,  Sheng Wang^#,  Qingjie Xiao,  Bin Pang,  Youli Zhou,  Fuxing Wang,  Pengliang Chi,  Qisheng Wang,  Zhen Li,  Lizhe Zhu,  Fuping Li,  Dong Deng*,  Ying-Chih Chiang*,  Zhenfei Li*,  Ruobing Ren*. Crystal structure of steroid reductase SRD5A reveals conserved steroid reduction mechanism. Nat Commun. 2021 Jan 19; 12(1):449. 
8. Jianpo Lian,  Yuanyuan Gao,  Jingjie Tang,  Xi Chen,  Ying Liu,  Denglong Wu,  Zhenfei Li*,  Shengsong Huang*. Response of prostate cancer to addition of dutasteride after progression on abiraterone. Asian J Androl. 2021, 23(2):222-223.
9. Xiaomei Gao^#, Charles Dai^#, Shengsong Huang^#, Jingjie Tang^#, Guoyuan Chen, Jianneng Li, Ziqi Zhu, Xuyou Zhu, Shuirong Zhou, Yuanyuan Gao, Zemin Hou, Zijun Fang, Chengdang Xu, Jianyang Wang, Denglong Wu*, Nima Sharifi*, Zhenfei Li*. Functional silencing of HSD17B2 in prostate cancer promotes disease progression. Clin Cancer Res. 2019, 25(4): 1291~1301.
10. Mohammad Alyamani^#, Zhenfei Li^#, Michael Berk, Jianneng Li,Jingjie Tang, Sunil K Upadhyay, Richard J Auchus, Nima Sharifi. Steroidogenic Metabolism of Galeterone Reveals a Diversity of Biochemical Activities. Cell Chem Biol. 2017 Jul 20;24(7):825-832. (^#co-first author)
11. Zhenfei Li, Mohammad Alyamani, Jianneng Li, Kevin Rogacki, M Abazeed, Sunil K Upadhyay, Steven P Balk, Maryellen Taplin, Richard J Auchus, Nima Sharifi. Redirecting abiraterone metabolism to fine-tune prostate cancer anti-androgen therapy. Nature, 2016, 533(7604): 547-551.
12. Zhenfei Li, Andrew C Bishop, Mohammad Alyamani, Jorge A Garcia, Robert Dreicer, Dustin R Bunch, Jiayan Liu, Sunil K Upadhyay, Richard J Auchus, Nima Sharifi. Conversion of abiraterone to D4A drives anti-tumour activity in prostate cancer. Nature, 2015, 523(7560).
13. Zhenfei Li^#, Fen Nie^#, Sheng Wang, Lin Li. Histone H4 Lys 20 monomethylation by histone methylase SET8 mediates Wnt target gene activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2011, 108(8): 3116-3123. (*co-first author)