Biography

Dr. Liu started his postdoctoral training at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UHC) in 2006. Before that he had been a Neurologist in Wannan Medical College Yijishan Hospital (China) for seven years. After 5-year postdoc training Dr. Liu was promoted to Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at UHC in 2012. Dr. Liu joined the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston McGovern Medical School in 2015 and serves as the Director of Translational Stroke Research. Dr. Liu’s research is funded by NIH, AHA and other intra-/extra-mural foundations. Dr. Liu dedicates himself to research in stroke and other CNS disorders, and to teaching/mentoring students/fellows. Dr. Liu serves as a grant review committee member for NIH/AHA study sections, as an editor for several journals, and frequently chairs symposiums at national/international conferences.

Education

Medical Degree
Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, Anhui, China
Masters Degree
Neuroscience, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui, China
Residency
Neurology, Yijishan Hospital, Anhui, China

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

Research interests in Dr. Liu’s lab focus on immune responses to cerebral ischemia and sex differences in CNS disorders. The research in this group spans from neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy to ischemic stroke in the aged, throughout the lifespan. We explore molecular/cellular regulatory pathways underlying the neuroinflammation to suppress pro-inflammatory and/or promote anti-inflammatory activation of immune cells, both in the central and in the peripheral. Clinically, many CNS disorders are sexually dimorphic, including nHIE, stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease, and COVID-19. Our research differentiates sex hormonal vs. sex chromosomal effects in these sex dichotomies, explores underlying genetic/epigenetic signaling pathways, and aims to develop sex specific therapeutic strategies to these diseases. Recently we have found several X-linked genes that escape from the X chromosome inactivation are involved in the disease sensitivity; cutting-edge technologies (CUT&RUN, mRNA sequencing, CYTOF, etc.) and animal models (FCG, XY*, etc.) are being used to facilitate these studies.

Publications

Visit the PubMed profile page

Selected publications:

    1. Qi S, Ngwa C, Morales Scheihing DA, Mamun AA, Ahnstedt HW, Finger CE, Colpo GD, Sharmeen R, Kim Y, Choi HA, McCullough LD, Liu F. Sex differences in the immune response to acute COVID-19 respiratory infection. Biol Sex Differ. 2021 Dec 20;12(1):66.
    2. Al Mamun A, Chauhan A, Qi S, Ngwa C, Xu Y, Sharmeen R, Hazen A, Li J, Aronowski J, McCullough LD, Liu F. Microglial IRF5-IRF4 regulatory axis regulates neuroinflammation after cerebral ischemia and impacts stroke outcomes. PNAS. 2020 Jan 21;117(3):1742-1752.
    3. Qi S, Al Mamun A, Ngwa C, Sharmeen R, Ritzel R, Arnold PA, McCullough LD, Liu F. X chromosome escapee genes are involved in ischemic sexual dimorphism through epigenetic modification of inflammatory signals. J Neuroinflammation. 2021 Mar 12;18(1):70.
    4. Qi S, Ngwa C, Al Mamun A, Romana S, Wu T, Marrelli SP, Arnold AP, McCullough LD, Liu F. X, but not Y, Chromosomal complement contributes to stroke sensitivity in aged animals. Transl Stroke Res. 2023 Oct;14(5):776-789.
    5. Venna VR, Weston G, Benashski SE, Tarabishy S, Liu F, Li J, Conti LH, McCullough LD. NF-κB contributes to the detrimental effects of social isolation after experimental stroke. Acta Neuropathol. 2012 Sep;124(3):425-38.