Profile
Qing Liu
Biological Sciences
Assistant Professor
864-656-2328
Jordan Hall 202 [Lab]
Jordan Hall 202A [Lab]
Long Hall 138 [Office]
Educational Background
Postdoc and Instructor, Genomics and Stem cell biology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Ph.D., Molecular Toxicology, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
BS, Biological Sciences, Nanjing University
Profile/About Me
Research conducted in my laboratory mainly focuses on two aspects of the cardiovascular system, including 1) mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in metabolism, and 2) mechanisms of dysfunction in the heart due to genetic (i.e., mutation) and non-genetic factors (i.e., exposure to toxicants/pharmaceuticals). We established a human-stem-cells-based and omics-centric approach, by using both 2D- and 3D-cardiac (organoids) differentiation models, in which transcriptomes and epigenomes were interrogated to investigate how transcriptional regulation influence metabolism (between glycolysis and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation) and mitochondrial quality control in the cardiovascular system. In addition, we also use human stem cells with CRISPR-technology for genome-wide screening of genes of interest that are involved in exposure. We utilize interdisciplinary approaches, including both in-vivo and in-vitro models, gene expression analysis (such as single-cell omics), epigenomic analysis (such as ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq), and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome-editing. The goal of our research is to fill knowledge gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms of cardiac and metabolic dysfunction due to transcriptional dysfunction or chemical exposure, and also in the future to benefit predictive developmental biology and toxicology with respect to human health.
Research Interests
Stem cell biology, cardiovascular toxicology and metabolism, genomics
Research Group (Lab)
We are currently accepting applications for our PhD and Master's programs in Toxicology and Biological Sciences.
PhD students: Cameron Brown, Xiao Li
Master student: Lauren Rosenthal
Undergraduate advising: Andrea Fletcher
Undergraduate students: Andrea Fletcher, Logan Betenbaugh, Elizabeth Rogers, Lani Hinson, Grace Jenkins, Tae Delaware, Elaine Lin, Susan Lin, Lada Palygina
Lab alumni: Yawei Shen (postdoc), Peng Zhang, Meaghan Veale, Maria Baltazar, Zoe Fazio, Luke Tomczak (Med School), Emily Boshaw (Med School), Annabella Jones, Soren Spina (Grad School), Jenna Mennona
Courses Taught
BIOL 4930 Senior Seminar (in Spring)
BIOL 4610 - Cell Biology (in Fall)
BIOL 8070. Readings in MCDB (in Fall)
BIOL 4910 Undergrad Research in Biol Sci
Selected Publications
Zhang B, Cai T, Reddy E, Wu Y, Gbufor AS, Tang Y, Mondal I, Wang J, Shen Y, Liu Q, Ho WS, Lu RO, Wu Z. Mitochondrial stress-induced protein carboxyl-terminal alanine threonine tailing (msiCAT-tailing) facilitates glioblastoma tumorigenesis through the modulation of mitochondrial functions. Elife. 2025 (In Press)
Shen Y, Brown CE, Li X, Zhang P, McGee SR, Spina SC, Loret de Mola JR, Fiddler JL, Wu H, Liu Q. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors induce cardiovascular toxicity via dysfunction of mitochondria in both developmental and mature stages. Communications Biology. 8, 736 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08168-8
Tahmasebinia F, Tang Y, Tang R, Zhang Y, de Oliveira M, BLaboret B, Bonderer W, Chen S, Jian R, Jiang L, Snyder MP, Chen C, Shen Y, Liu Q, Liu B, Wu Z. The 40S ribosomal subunit recycling complex modulates mitochondrial dynamics and endoplasmic reticulum - mitochondria tethering at mitochondrial fission/fusion hotspots. Nature Communications. 2025 Jan 25;16(1):1021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56346-3
Chen K, Li K, Canchola A, Liu J, Liu Q, Chou WC. Transfer learning enables robust prediction of cellular toxicity from environmental micro- and nanoplastics. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2025 Jul 24;496:139353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.139353
Zhang P, Liu Y, Li C, Sting LD, Wang P-H, Turnbull MW, Wu H*, Liu Q*. Ectopic expression of SARS-CoV-2 S and ORF-9B proteins alters metabolic profiles and impairs contractile function in cardiomyocytes. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology - Molecular and Cellular Pathology. 2023. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2023.1110271
Luo W, Adamska J, Verma R, Liu Q, Gupta S, Hagan T, Li C, Feng Y, Valore E, Wang Y, Trisal M, Subramaniam S, Osborne TF, Pulendran B. SREBP signaling is essential for effective B cell responses. Nature Immunology. 2023 Feb;24(2):337-348. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-022-01376-y
Van Bortle K, Marciano DP, Liu Q, Lipchik AM, Gollapudi S, Geller B, Monte E, Kamakaka RT, Snyder MP. A cancer-associated RNA Polymerase III identity drives robust transcription and expression of SNAR-A noncoding RNA. Nature Communications. 2022. 13, 3007. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30323-6
Grubert F#, Srivas R#, Spacek DV#, Kasowski M#, Greenside P, Narasimha A, Liu Q, Geller B, Sanghi A, Kullik M, Sa S, Rabinovitch M, Dalton S, Snyder MP. Landscape of cohesin-mediated chromatin loops in the human genome. Nature. 2020, 583(7818):737-743. PMID: 32728247 (# equal contribution)
Jiang C#, Wang X#, Li X#, Inlora J#, Wang T#, Liu Q, Snyder MP. Dynamic human exposome revealed by longitudinal personal monitoring. Cell. 2018,175(1):P277-291.E31. PMID: 30241608 (# equal contribution)
Liu Q, Van Bortle K, Zhang Y, Zhao M-T, Zhang JJ, Benjamin GS, Gruber JJ, Jiang C, Wu JC, Snyder MP. Disruption of mesoderm formation during cardiac differentiation due to developmental exposure to 13-cis-retinoic acid. Scientific Reports.2018, 8:12960. PMID: 30154523
Liu Q, Jiang C, Xu J, Zhao M, Van Bortle K, Cheng X, Wang G, Chang HY, Wu JC, Snyder MP. Genome-wide temporal profiling of transcriptome and open chromatin of early cardiomyocyte differentiation derived from hiPSCs and hESCs. Circulation Research. 2017, 121(4): 376-391. PMID: 28663367
Zhao M-T#, Chen H #, Liu Q #, Shao N, Sayed N, Liu C, Kim Y, Yang H, Chour T, Ma H, Gutierrez N, Karakikes I, Mitalipov S, Snyder MP, Wu JC. Molecular and functional resemblance of differentiated cells derived from isogenic human iPSCs and SCNT-derived ESCs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2017. 114(52): E11111-E11120. PMID: 29203658 (# equal contribution)
Memberships
Society of Toxicology
American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
