His sudden death marks China’s latest loss of a leading scientist at the height of their research career. Li, a professor and deputy dean of the school of pharmaceutical sciences at Hainan University, dedicated himself to pioneering drug discovery through light-controlled and bioactive visualisation technologies. He was elected a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society of Chemistry in 2019 and of the Royal Society of Biology in 2021. In 2022, he was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials in Sweden.