Kui Li is a senior professor, doctoral supervisor, winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, chief scientist of 973, and leading talent of the National New Century Millions of Talents Project. He received his bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree from Wuhan University. From 1996 to 2003, he served as a professor and doctoral supervisor of Huazhong Agricultural University. From 2001 to 2003, he was a full-time visiting professor at Cornell University. From 2004 to 2020, he served as a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

His main research direction is animal genetic improvement and germplasm innovation in pig genome, pig genetic engineering, experimental miniature pigs and medical models for many years. He has carried out original research on both basic science and technology innovation to address the bottleneck problems in China's pig industry.

He is the deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of Agricultural Biotechnology, the deputy editor-in-chief of Frontier in genetics, the editor-in-chief of the column of the China Agricultural Science and Technology Guidance News, the Chinese Journal of Agricultural Sciences, the Journal of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, the Journal of Food Safety and Quality Inspection, the Chinese Journal of Animal Husbandry, and BioMed Research International. He also serves as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, American Journal of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, etc.

He has won 1 second prize of the National Technological Invention Award (the first completer) and 14 provincial and ministerial science and technology awards. He has authorized 2 US patents and more than 100 national invention patents.  In 1999, he was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and was rated as a young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contributions from the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2000, he was awarded the special government allowance of the State Council, in 2000, he was selected as an outstanding talent for first-class posts of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in 2004, he was selected into the National New Century Millions of Talents Project, in 2012, he was rated as a national outstanding talent in agricultural research, in 2013, he was rated as a national advanced individual in agriculture, and in 2014, he was awarded the "May Day Labor Medal" by the central government.  As the chief scientist, he led the "Porcine Genetic Engineering and Germplasm Innovation Team" selected as the Excellent Innovation Team of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2008, the Innovation Team of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2012, the Advanced Collective of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2008-2013, and the Innovation Team Award of the Chinese Agricultural Science and Technology Award in 2015. Corresponding author (including co-author) in National Science Review, Elife, Protein Cell, Genome Biology, Redox Biology and other journals have published more than 200 SCI papers, authorized 100 patents, 19 software copyrights, and formulated 9 national standards.