Liu, Ying
- Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences , Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work

Overview
overview
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Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide autologous materials for patients, which theoretically omit the need for immune suppression. We have optimized the more clinically relevant, integration-free hiPSC generation protocol and performed directed differentiation of patient-specific iPSCs into neural stem cells, neuronal and glial progenitors, as well as mature cell types for disease modeling, transplantation studies, neural regeneration and repair, and drug screening and testing. The highly efficient CRISPR gene editing tool adapted in the lab allows for quick creation of neural lineage reporters and multigene activation for lineage induction. These neural lineage specific cells are applied to in-depth study of signal transduction in disease and development. Our research projects include (1) generation of clinically relevant iPSCs for therapeutics uses; (2) identification of optimal neural lineage progenitors for cell-based therapy in spinal cord injury; (3) Down syndrome disease modeling using patient derived iPSCs and neural populations; and (4) molecular changes in gene expression regulatory networks in glioblastoma.
Dr. Ying Liu is an Associate Professor of Center for Translational Science at the Florida International University (FIU). Dr. Liu is a fellowship-trained investigator. She earned her medical degree at Peking University Health Science Center in China. She received her Ph.D. in neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah, where she investigated the development of glia and glial precursors. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in gene targeting in human embryonic stem cells at the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.
Before joining FIU, Dr. Liu was an Associate Professor at the McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She also worked as an assistant project scientist at the University of California, San Diego, with a concomitant appointment as a professional scientific collaborator at the Scripps Research Institute. She has held clinical and research positions at the Peking University First Hospital in China and was senior scientist for primary and stem cell systems at Invitrogen, a division of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Dr. Liu’s research has been presented and published widely. She has co-authored articles that have appeared in Nature Communications, Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids, Cell Stem Cell, Stem Cells, Nature Protocols, Nature Genetics, among other journals. Her long-term goal as an investigator is to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms of neural differentiation with the aim of translating this knowledge into novel therapeutic strategies for neural repair and protection.
research interests
- Human induced pluripotent stem cells, neural repair, spinal cord injury, disease modeling.
Scholarly & Creative Works
selected publications
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Article
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2022OCT4-induced oligodendrocyte progenitor cells promote remyelination and ameliorate diseaseFull Text via DOI: 10.1038/s41536-021-00199-z Web of Science: 000742367000001
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2020Expression of SREBP2 and cholesterol metabolism related genes in TCGA glioma cohortsFull Text via DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000018815 Web of Science: 000525472300002
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2019OLIG2 Drives Abnormal Neurodevelopmental Phenotypes in Human iPSC-Based Organoid and Chimeric Mouse Models of Down SyndromeFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2019.04.014 Web of Science: 000470309800014
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2019Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cerebral Organoids Reveal Human Oligodendrogenesis with Dorsal and Ventral OriginsFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2019.04.011 Web of Science: 000467952400004
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2018Mining TCGA database for genes of prognostic value in glioblastoma microenvironmentFull Text via DOI: 10.18632/aging.101415 Web of Science: 000433595400013
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2017EZH2-, CHD4-, and IDH-linked epigenetic perturbation and its association with survival in glioma patientsFull Text via DOI: 10.1093/jmcb/mjx056 Web of Science: 000425284600005
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2017One-Step piggyBac Transposon-Based CRISPR/Cas9 Activation of Multiple GenesFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2017.06.007 Web of Science: 000404073300003
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2017Human neural progenitors derived from integration-free iPSCs for SCI therapyFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.scr.2017.01.004 Web of Science: 000397450700013
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2017piggyBac mediates efficient in vivo CRISPR library screening for tumorigenesis in miceFull Text via DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1615735114 Web of Science: 000392597000047
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2017Effects of Propofol Treatment in Neural Progenitors Derived from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem CellsFull Text via DOI: 10.1155/2017/9182748 Web of Science: 000413599600001
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2016Metformin treatment reduces temozolomide resistance of glioblastoma cellsFull Text via DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.12859 Web of Science: 000389636000049
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2016Human pluripotent stem cells as a model of trophoblast differentiation in both normal development and diseaseFull Text via DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1604747113 Web of Science: 000379021700012
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2016Human iPSC-Derived Immature Astroglia Promote Oligodendrogenesis by Increasing TIMP-1 SecretionFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.04.011 Web of Science: 000376164800015
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2016Generation and validation of PAX7 reporter lines from human iPS cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technologyFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.scr.2016.01.003 Web of Science: 000375562600005
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2016Generation and Characterization of a MYF5 Reporter Human iPS Cell Line Using CRISPR/Cas9 Mediated Homologous RecombinationFull Text via DOI: 10.1038/srep18759 Web of Science: 000368356300001
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2016Genetic Modification in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells by Homologous Recombination and CRISPR/Cas9 SystemFull Text via DOI: 10.1007/7651_2014_73 Web of Science: 000686611600012
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2015Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell NEUROG2 Dual Knockin Reporter Lines Generated by the CRISPR/Cas9 SystemFull Text via DOI: 10.1089/scd.2015.0131 Web of Science: 000366599600008
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2015Efficient Generation of hiPSC Neural Lineage Specific Knockin Reporters Using the CRISPR/Cas9 and Cas9 Double Nickase SystemFull Text via DOI: 10.3791/52539 Web of Science: 000361535300019
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2014Role of astroglia in Down's syndrome revealed by patient-derived human-induced pluripotent stem cellsFull Text via DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5430 Web of Science: 000340622900022
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2013Generation and Characterization of Spiking and Nonspiking Oligodendroglial Progenitor Cells from Embryonic Stem CellsFull Text via DOI: 10.1002/stem.1515 Web of Science: 000327736000004
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2013Matched miRNA and mRNA signatures from an hESC-based in vitro model of pancreatic differentiation reveal novel regulatory interactionsFull Text via DOI: 10.1242/jcs.123570 Web of Science: 000323759800006
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2013hESC-derived Olig2(+) progenitors generate a subtype of astroglia with protective effects against ischaemic brain injuryFull Text via DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3196 Web of Science: 000323716900003
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2008Isolation of neural stem and precursor cells from rodent tissueFull Text via DOI: 10.1007/978-1-59745-133-8_5
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2007A large-scale proteomic analysis of human embryonic stem cellsFull Text via DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-8-478
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2006Transcriptome coexpression map of human embryonic stem cellsFull Text via DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-7-103
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2006Human embryonic stem cells have a unique epigenetic signatureFull Text via DOI: 10.1101/gr.5319906
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2006Brg1 is required for murine neural stem cell maintenance and gliogenesisFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2005.10.044
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2004CD44 expression identifies astrocyte-restricted precursor cellsFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.08.018
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2002Human neural precursor cells - An in vitro characterizationFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/S1566-2772(02)00007-5
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Book Chapter
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2012Gene Targeting by Homologous Recombination in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. 485-498.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-385473-5.00031-X
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2012Lentiviral Vector Systems for Transgene Delivery. 463-483.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-385473-5.00030-8
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2012Transdifferentiation in the nervous system. 245-264.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-3801-4_10
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2011Improving Gene Targeting Efficiency in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. 211-225.Full Text via DOI: 10.1002/9781118147177.ch11
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Conference
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2013Stable transfection using episomal vectors to create modified human embryonic stem cells. 263-272.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/978-1-62703-348-0_21
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Letter
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2013Melanocytes derived from transgene-free human induced pluripotent stem cells. 2104-2108.Full Text via DOI: 10.1038/jid.2013.139
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Note
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Other Scholarly Work
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2017Transcriptional and Genomic Control of Stem Cells in Development and CancerFull Text via DOI: 10.1155/2017/2513598 Web of Science: 000403954100001
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Preprint
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Review
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2016Reverse engineering human neurodegenerative disease using pluripotent stem cell technology. 30-41.Full Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.09.023 Web of Science: 000377311500004
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2016Argonaute and Argonaute-Bound Small RNAs in Stem CellsFull Text via DOI: 10.3390/ijms17020208 Web of Science: 000371830800078
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2013Stem Cell Models for Drug Discovery and Toxicology Studies. 17-27.Full Text via DOI: 10.1002/jbt.21470 Web of Science: 000313777200003
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Research
principal investigator on
- Reconnecting the injured cervical spinal cord by transplanted human iPSC-derived neural progenitors awarded by Neurological Disorders and Stroke 2021 - 2024
- A Human iPSC-Based Chimeric Mouse Brain Model of Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's Disease in Down Syndrome awarded by National Institute on Aging 2021 - 2022
- Beyond Gene Dosage: Understanding Down Syndrome via 4D Genome Organization awarded by National Heart, Lung, & Blood Institute 2021 - 2022
- Understanding Down Syndrome Brain Development Using Human IPSC-based Mouse Chimeras awarded by Neurological Disorders and Stroke 2021
co-principal investigator on
Contact
full name
- Ying Liu