Dr. Dan Liu received her bachelor’s degree from the School of Life Sciences at Wuhan University in 2011 and got her Ph.D. from the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at Tsinghua University in 2016. From 2016 to 2023, Dr. Liu joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Department of Microbiology and Immunology at University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Liu joined the School of Life Sciences at Westlake University in 2023 as an assistant professor of the Laboratory of Dynamic Immunology and Imaging.

The immune system is a highly heterogeneous community of many cell types with unique phenotypic and functional properties. The highly dynamic communication among these diverse cell types is important for maintaining tissue homeostasis and ensuring rapid responses to foreign invaders or malignancies. Dr. Liu has made several important achievements in the research of immune cell differentiation and its role in humoral immune response. Our research will integrate classical immunology, computational biology, CRISPR/Cas9-based in vivo screening and intravital two-photon microscopy in mouse models and human samples, to understand how immune cells interact within their tissues and with surrounding microenvironments to maintain homeostasis, as well as how dysregulation of these processes leads to immune disorders and diseases. These studies will allow for regionalized regulation of cells and provide new ideas for vaccine design and immuno-modulatory therapeutics. Our research interests will mainly focus on (but not limited to) the following directions:

1) Molecular mechanism and function of interactions between immune cells and their microenvironment.

2) Development and function of myeloid cells, including DCs, monocytes and macrophages.

3) Immune surveillance against autoimmune diseases and tumors. 

1. Dan Liu, Lihui Duan, Lauren B. Rodda, Erick Lu, Ying Xu, Jinping An, Longhui Qiu, Fengchun Liu, Mark R. Looney, Zhiyong Yang, Christopher DC. Allen, Zhongmei Li, Alexander Marson, Jason G. Cyster. CD97 promotes spleen dendritic cell homeostasis through mechanosensing of red blood cells. Science.2022;375:eabi5965.

2. Lihui Duan*, Dan Liu*, Hsin Chen, Michelle A. Mintz, Marissa Y. Chou, Dmitri I. Kotov, Ying Xu, Jinping An, Brian J. Laidlaw, Jason G. Cyster. Follicular dendritic cells restrict interleukin-4 availability in germinal centers and foster memory B cell generation. Immunity.2021;54(10):2256-2272.

3. Dan Liu*, Jiacong Yan*, Jiahui Sun*, Bo Liu, Weiwei Ma, Ye Li, Xingxing Shao, Hai Qi. BCL6 controls contact-dependent help delivery during follicular T-B cell interactions. Immunity.2021;54(10):2245-2255.

4. Dan Liu, Jiaxi Wu, Jinping An, Jason G. Cyster. Requirements for cDC2 positioning in blood exposed regions of the neonatal and adult spleen. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2020;217:e20192300.

5. Dan Liu*, Heping Xu*, Changming Shih, Zurong Wan, Xiaopeng Ma, Weiwei Ma, Dan Luo, Hai Qi. T-B cell entanglements and ICOSL-driven feed-forward regulation of germinal centre reaction. Nature.2015;517:214-218.

(*Co-first authors)

Complete publication list:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VtYXBxQAAAAJ&hl=en

Email: liudan@westlake.edu.cn

Our group is under preparation, and we are looking forward to your participation sincerely!