Chun Liu, PhD

Dr. Chun Liu is an assistant professor of physiology and medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and a member of Cardiovascular Research Center and Cancer Center. He obtained his PhD in stem cell biology from Peking University, mentored by Dr. Hongkui Deng. During his doctoral studies, Dr. Liu developed a chemical cocktail to reprogram somatic cells into iPSCs, a foundational work in the field of chemical-based iPSC reprogramming. Subsequently, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease research at Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Wu, MD, PhD. His work there included probing the pathogenic mechanisms underlying Lamin A/C mutation-induced dilated cardiomyopathy with patient-specific iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) and endothelial cells (ECs), and researching new therapeutic drugs. Dr. Liu leveraged his expertise in iPSC, multiomics, and high-throughput CRISPRi/a screens to uncover novel genetic regulators in areas of genetic heart disease and drug-induced cardiomyopathy, including cardio-oncology. These innovative approaches offer a comprehensive view of the human genome's role in genetic and drug toxicity-induced cardiovascular disease, opening a new era of understanding heart diseases and targeted treatment. Dr. Liu's research has gained significant supported through various awards and grants such as the American Heart Association (AHA) Postdoctoral Award, Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Seed Grant, AHA Career Development Award, Startup Fund from MCW, and, recently, AHA’s Second Century Early Faculty Independence Award.

2023-2026 - American Heart Association Second Century Early Faculty Independence Award
2019-2022 - American Heart Association Career Development Award
2021 - American Heart Association Scientific Session Travel Award
2021 - Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Travel Award
2016-2018 - American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship
2013 - Peking University Innovation Prize, Beijing, China

WE ARE HIRING! Dr. Liu is passionate about mentoring and cultivating the next generation of scientific minds. Opportunities abound in our lab for talented students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as postdoctoral researchers. Engage with highly innovative projects that are currently underway, focusing on the fascinating fields of stem cell research and genomics. If these areas spark your interest, please don't hesitate to reach out to Dr. Liu directly. Your future in cutting-edge scientific exploration could begin with us!

• Methodologies and Techniques
• Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)/reprogramming
• Human cardiovascular differentiation (cardiomyocyte, endothelial cell, smooth muscle cell, and pericyte)
• Genome editing (CRISPR and base editing)
• CRISPRi/a screen
• Perturb-seq
• Transcriptomic/Epigenomic/Proteomic analysis
• Vascular function
• Cardiomyocyte function Mentoring and Training