High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Xia Li is a scientist based at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. She is known for her work on feline sensory studies, including groundbreaking research as to why cats cannot taste sweets. She, along with her collaborator Dr. Joseph Brand, concluded that modern cats have lost function in an obsolete taste receptor, removing the ability taste sweets, unlike their prehistoric ancestors. Her accomplishments were featured in the inaugural issue of PLoS Genetics and in the December 2005 issue of Catnip Magazine.