Li Rebekah Feng

Dr. Li Rebekah Feng is a research fellow at the Symptoms Biology Unit and the Symptom Science Center, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health. After receiving her PhD in neuroscience at Georgetown University Medical Center with a focus on the role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease in 2012, she went on to conduct her postdoctoral research at Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich, Germany. At Max Planck Institute, she was part of a team that discovered a possible common mechanism of multiple neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Frontal Lobe Dementia.

Since joining NINR/NIH as a research fellow in 2015, Dr. Feng has devoted her efforts to uncovering mechanisms of the pathogenic process of cancer-related fatigue, a debilitating symptom that affects many cancer patients. Trained as a neuroscientist, she is particularly interested in applying innovative interdisciplinary approaches to enhance the investigation of biological mechanisms in clinical research, and to pinpoint the neural substrates underlying the development and persistence of fatigue symptoms. In addition, she is part of a trans-NIH research team led by NINDS dedicated to understanding myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a condition that is poorly understood and currently has no cure.

Publications:

• Feng LR, Regan J, Shrader JA, Liwang J, Alshawi S, Joseph J, Ross A, Saligan LN. Measuring the Motor Aspect of Cancer-Related Fatigue using a Handheld Dynamometer. Journal of Visualized Experiments. (2020) e60814 In-press.

• Feng LR, Wolff BS, Liwang J, Regan J, Alshawi S, Raheem S, Saligan L. Cancer‑related fatigue during combined treatment of androgen deprivation therapy and radiotherapy is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. International Journal of Molecular Medicine. (2020) 45: 485-496.

• Feng LR, Regan J, Shrader JA, Liwang J, Ross A, Kumar S, Saligan LN. Cognitive and motor aspects of cancer-related fatigue. Cancer Medicine (2019) 8 (13), 5840-5849.

• Feng LR, Fuss T, Dickinson K, Ross A, Saligan LN. Co-occurring symptoms contribute to persistent fatigue in prostate cancer. Oncology (2019) 96 (4), 183-191

• Feng LR, Fernández-Martínez J, Zaal K, Wolff B, de Andrés-Galianam E, Saligan LN. mGluR5 mediates post-radiotherapy fatigue development in cancer patients. Translational Psychiatry (2018) 8 (1), 110

• Feng LR, Espina A, Saligan LN. Association of Fatigue Intensification and Cognitive Impairment during Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer. Oncology (2018) 94 (6), 363 - 372

• Feng LR, Nguyen Q, Ross A, Saligan LN. Evaluating the Role of Mitochondrial Function in Cancer-related Fatigue. Journal of Visualized Experiements (2018) 135

• Feng LR, Suy S, Collins SP, Lischalk J, Yuan B, Saligan LN. Comparison of Late Urinary Symptoms Following SBRT and SBRT with IMRT Supplementation for Prostate Cancer. Current Urology (2017) 11 (4), 218-224

• Feng LR, Suy S, Collins SP, Saligan LN. The role of TRAIL in fatigue induced by repeated stress from radiotherapy. Journal of Psychiatric Research (2017) 91, 130–138

• Feng LR, Wolff BS, Lukkahatai N, Espina A, Saligan LN. Explorative Investigation of Biomarkers for Predicting Fatigue in Prostate Cancer Patients Following Radiation Therapy. Cancer nursing (2017) 40 (3), 184-193

• Woerner AW, Frottin F, Hornburg D, Feng LR, et al. Cytoplasmic protein aggregates interfere with nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of protein and RNA. Science (2016) 351 (6269), 173-176

• Feng LR, Saligan LN. Different phenotyping approaches lead to dissimilar biologic profiles in men with chronic fatigue following radiation therapy" has been assigned the following manuscript number. Journal of pain and symptom management (2016) 52 (6), 832-840

• Lejbman N, Olivera A, Heinzelmann M, Feng R, Yun S, Kim HS, Gill J. Active duty service members who sustain a traumatic brain injury have chronically elevated peripheral concentrations of A β 40 and lower ratios of A β 42/40. Brain injury (2016) 30 (12), 1436-1441

• Collins SP, Koneru H, Cyr R, Feng LR, et al. The Impact of Obesity on Patient Reported Outcomes Following Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer. Cureus (2016) 8 (7), e669

• Renner M, Feng R, Springer D, Chen M, Ntamack A, Espina A, Saligan LN. A murine model of peripheral irradiation-induced fatigue. Behavioural brain research (2016) 307, 218-226

• Vichaya EG, Molkentine JM, Vermeer DW, Walker AK, Feng LR, et al. Sickness behavior induced by cisplatin chemotherapy and radiotherapy in a murine head and neck cancer model is associated with altered mitochondrial gene expression. Behavioural Brain Research (2016) 297, 241-250

• Feng LR, Mei-Chen M-K, Lukkahatai N, Hsiao C-P, Kaushal A, Sechrest L, Saligan LN. Clinical predictors of fatigue in men with non-metastatic prostate cancer receiving external beam radiation therapy. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (2015) 19 (6), 744

• Fukuda Y, Schrod N, Schaffer M, Feng R, Baumeister W, Lucic V. Coordinate Transformation Based Cryo-Correlative Methods for Electron Tomography and Focused Ion Beam Milling. (2014) Ultramicroscopy 143:15-23

• Feng LR and Maguire-Zeiss KA. Dopamine and paraquat enhance alpha-synuclein-induced alterations in membrane conductance. (2011) Neurotoxicty Research 20(4):387-401.

• Khandelwal PJ, Dumanis SB, Feng LR, Maguire-Zeiss K, Rebeck GW, Lashuel HA, E-H Moussa C. Parkinson-related parkin reduces alpha-Synuclein phosphorylation in a gene transfer model. (2010) Molecular Neurodegeneration 5(1):47.

• Feng LR, Federoff HJ, Vicini S and Maguire-Zeiss KA. Alpha-synuclein mediates alterations in membrane conductance: a potential role for alpha -synuclein oligomers in cell vulnerability. (2010) European Journal of Neuroscience 32(1):10-7.

• Feng LR and Maguire-Zeiss KA. Gene Therapy in Parkinson's Disease: Rationale and Current Status. (2010) CNS Drugs 24(3):177-192.

• Hoe HS, Fu Z, Makarova A, Lee JY, Lu C, Feng L, Pajoohesh-Ganji A, Matsuoka Y, Hyman BT, Ehlers MD, Vicini S, Pak DT, Rebeck GW. The effects of amyloid precursor protein on postsynaptic composition and activity. (2009) Journal of Biological Chemistry 284(13):8495-506.

• Hacker K, Laskowski A, Feng L, Restrepo D, and Medler K. Evidence for two populations of bitter responsive taste cells in mice. (2008) Journal of Neurophysiology 99(3):1503-1514.

• Matsuoka Y, Jouroukhin Y, Gray AJ, Ma L, Hirata-Fukae C, Li HF, Feng L, Lecanu L, Walker BR, Planel E, Arancio O, Gozes I, Aisen PS. A neuronal microtubule-interacting agent, NAPVSIPQ, reduces tau pathology and enhances cognitive function in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. (2008) Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 3259(1):146-153.