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，治愈率显著低于西方国家，因此针对我国人群的前列腺癌精准诊治相关研究意义重大。本实验室致力于开展基于人群队列、回答临床问题的转化研究，解析前列腺癌种族异质性的表征和机制，开发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治疗策略。实验室前期发现了东西方人群药物代谢的异质性，发现了适用于我国人群的前列腺癌治疗新靶点和相应先导化合物（Nature，2015&2016；Cell Rep Med，2022a；Nat Commun，2021；Oncogene，2022）；揭示了疾病进展过程中代谢重塑特征，并发现可用于患者代谢分型的内源代谢产物（Cell Rep Med，2022b；Prostate，2022；Clin Can Res，2019）；建立组织代谢示踪系统，发现恶性前列腺癌相关代谢特征、筛查方式和防治措施（J Clin Invest，2023；JSBMS，2021）。基于实验室工作发起的多项临床研究和药物开发正在推进中。

1. Weiwei Yan*, Xun Liu, Xuefeng Qiu, Xuebin Zhang, Jiahui Chen, Kai Xiao, Ping Wu, Chao Peng, Xiaolin Hu, Zengming Wang, Jun Qin, Liming Sun, Luonan Chen, Denglong Wu, Shengsong Huang*, Lichen Yin*, Zhenfei Li*PRMT5-mediated FUBP1 methylation accelerates prostate cancer progression. J Clin Invest. 2024 Aug 15; 134(18): e175023. doi: 10.1172/JCI175023.
2. Xuebin Zhang#, Zengming Wang#, Shengsong Huang#, Dongyin He#, Weiwei Yan, Qian Zhuang, Zixian Wang, Chenyang Wang, Qilong Tan, Ziqun Liu, Tao Yang, Ying Liu, Ruobing Ren, Jing Li, William Butler, Huiru Tang, Gong-Hong Wei, Xin Li*, Denglong Wu*, Zhenfei Li*, Active DHEA uptake in the prostate gland correlates with aggressive prostate cancer. J Clin Invest. 2023 Dec 15;133(24):e171199. doi: 10.1172/JCI171199.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
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. 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.
9. 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)
10. 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.
11. 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).
12. 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)