Biography

Dr. Liu started his postdoctoral training at the University of Connecticut Health (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 awarded a Scientist Development Grant from American Heart Association (AHA) and appointed as an Assistant Professor of UHC in 2012. Dr. Liu joined the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in 2015 and serves as the Director of Translational Stroke Research in addition to his commitment to teaching. Dr. Liu has been selected as a grant review committee member for AHA Brain Study Section, and chaired symposiums at international conferences. In 2019 Dr. Liu was promoted to tenured Associate Professor. Being PI on multiple NIH grants (R01s and R21s), Dr. Liu dedicates himself to research in stroke, and also to teaching/mentoring students/fellows.

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 innate immune responses and sex differences in cerebral ischemia. Post-stroke inflammation is characterized as either pro- or anti-inflammatory response to neuronal damage, and significantly contributes to stroke pathology as well as functional recovery. We explore regulatory pathways underlying the neuroinflammation aiming to suppress pro-inflammatory and/or promote anti-inflammatory activation of immune cells. Stroke is a sexually dimorphic disease throughout the lifespan. We are interested in how the sex-specific stroke phenotypes are regulated in neonatal, young and aged brains. While hormonal effects play important roles in the sex difference in young stroke patients, we have found chromosomal effects in mediating the stroke sensitivity in aged brains. By using genetically modified animal models, we study X escapee genes that escape from X chromosome inactivation, and try to understand whether and how these genes impacts on the sexual dimorphism.

Publications

Visit the PubMed profile page

1. Abdullah A. Mamun, Haifu Yu, Mehwish A. Mirza, Sharmeen Romana, Louise D. McCullough, Fudong Liu. Myeloid cell IRF4 signaling protects neonatal brains from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Neurochem Int. 2019 Jul;127:148-157. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2018.12.014.

2. Abdullah A. Mamun, Anjali Chauhan, Haifu Yu, Yan Xu, Romana Sharmeen, Fudong Liu. Interferon regulatory factor 4/5 signaling impacts on microglial activation after ischemic stroke in mice. Eur J Neurosci. 2018 Jan;47(2):140-149. doi: 10.111/ejn.13778.

3. Louise McCullough, Mehwish Mirza, Yan Xu, Kathryn Bentivegna, Eleanor Steffens, Rodney Ritzel, Fudong Liu. Stroke sensitivity in the aged: sex chromosome complement vs. gonadal hormones. Aging (Albany NY). 2016 Jul;8(7):1432-41. doi: 10.18632/aging.100997.

4. Mehwish A. Mirza, Rodney Ritzel, Yan Xu, Louise D. McCullough, Fudong Liu. Sexually dimorphic outcomes and inflammatory responses in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Journal of Neuroinflammation. 2015, 12:32. DOI: 10.1186/s12974-015-0251-6.

5. Chad Siegel, Jun Li, Fudong Liu, Sharon E. Benashski, Louise D. McCullough. miR-23a regulation of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) contributes to sex differences in the response to cerebral ischemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jul 12; 108(28): 11662-7.