Our research for the last two decades has focused on E3 ubiquitin ligases in lymphocyte activation and tolerance induction. We previously showed that the E3 ubiquitin ligase VHL-hypoxic inducing factor (HIF) pathway is critical in controlling the stability and function of regulatory T cells by modulating interferon- production. We recently extended to the study of other cell types including innate lymphoid type 2 cells, and found that the VHL-HIF axis is important in regulating their development and function via balancing the cellular glucose metabolism during lung inflammation. The latest results of our on-going research will be presented in this seminar.
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Dr. Liu is a full Professor at Institute for Immunology, Tsinghua University (IITU), Beijing, and holds joint appointment at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LJI). Dr. Liu’s research focuses on analyzing signaling events that are triggered by receptors on lymphocytes, with special emphasis on the protein ubiquitination pathway in immune regulation. His lab is using molecular, cellular, proteomics, and genetic approaches to study the basic mechanisms of ubiquitin conjugation in lymphocyte signaling transduction, tolerance induction, and differentiation into different T cell subsets. In addition, his group employs mouse models of arthritis, intestinal inflammation, allergic hypersensitivity, and viral infection to study the functional role of protein ubiquitination in immune responses.

Dr. Liu received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Gunma University in Japan and went to LJI in 1993 for his postdoctoral training. In 1997 he became a research scientist at LJI, and in 1999 he was appointed to the faculty as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2002, an Associate Professor with tenure in 2006, and a Full Professor in 2009 at LJI. Since 2013, he has jointed the newly established IITU in Beijing, China.