Li is best known for introducing sliced inverse regression (SIR) and principal Hessian direction (PHD), two fundamental dimension reduction methods for high dimensional data analysis. Starting from 2000, his research interest turned to the emerging field of computation/mathematics/statistics in genome biology. In 2002, he published a paper in Proceedings of Academy of Science, featuring the novel method of liquid association (LA) for microarray gene expression analysis. He is currently leading a research group in UCLA and in Academia Sinica to continue the development of methods for utilizing multiple sources of gene expression profiling, genetic markers, complex disease phenotypes and traits. A website http://kiefer.stat2.sinica.edu.tw/LAP3 offers on-line computation based on LA and related methods for gene expression studies. He is also collaborating with Dr. Pan Chyr Yang of National Taiwan University and his colleagues on integrative cancer biology.