Dr. Huishegn Liu is a Professor of Neuroscience and Stem cell at Multidisciplinary Innovation Center of Medicine & Engineering, Beihang University. He is known for his work in the molecular mechanism of neurotransmission and neural differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). His work is at the interface of neuroscience, human stem cell biology and biophysics, and has published a series of papers on prestigious journals including Cell, Nature Neuroscience, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Biotechnology, eLife, PNAS, Nature Communications, Cell Reports, the Journal of Neuroscience.  

Dr. Liu received his BS degree from Wuhan University in 1995, and a PhD degree in Biophysics mentored by Dr. Tao Xu from the Huazhong University of Science & Technology，China in 2006. After that, he started the post-doctoral training at the Neurotransmission Program in Dr. Edwin Chapman’s neuroscience research lab at the University of Wisconsin – Madison; In 2010, he went to Dr. Su-Chun Zhang’s stem cell lab as Assistant Scientist at the same campus working on neurodegenerative disease modeling of hPSCs, including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In 2015, he moved to Dr. Ling-Gang Wu’s lab and was appointed as Staff Scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 2017, Dr. Liu joined the Beihang University.

Research Interests:

The research in Dr. Liu’s lab is focused on understanding the molecular mechanism of neuronal function constructing, and developing human stem cell translational medicine for neuronal diseases (stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, and motor neuron diseases):

1)       Molecular mechanism of neuronal function constructing: axonal projection, synapse formation, neurotransmission happening (exo-/endocytosis), and neuronal circuits developments.

2)       Differentiation of specific neural cell types from hPSCs and neuronal function establishment. 

3)       Disease modeling and cell therapy of hPSCs for human neuronal disorders (such as stroke, PD, AD, SMA, and ALS)

         

Professional Activities:

Member, Biophysical Society，

Member, Society for Neuroscience (SfN)

Member, International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)

 

Selected Publications:

1.   Shin W, Ge L, Arpino G, Villarreal SA, Hamid E, Liu H, Zhao WD, Wen PJ, Chiang HC, Wu LG. (2018) Visualization of Membrane Pore in Live Cells Reveals a Dynamic-Pore Theory Governing Fusion and Endocytosis. Cell 173:934-945

2.   Wu XS, Elias S, Liu H, Heureaux J, Wen PJ, Liu AP, Kozlov MM, Wu LG. (2017) Membrane Tension Inhibits Rapid and Slow Endocytosis in Secretory Cells. Biophys J 113:2406-2414.

3.   Lu J, Zhong X, Liu H, Hao L, Huang CT, Sherafat MA, Jones J, Ayala M, Li L, Zhang SC. (2016) Generation of serotonin neurons from human pluripotent stem cells. Nature Biotechnology 34: 89-94.

4.   Chen Y, Xiong M, Dong Y, Haberman A, Cao J, Liu H, Zhou W, Zhang SC. (2016) Chemical Control of Grafted Human PSC-Derived Neurons in a Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease. Cell Stem Cell 18: 817-26

5.   Liu H^#, Lu J, Chen H, Du Z and Zhang SC^#. (2015) Spinal muscular atrophy patient-derived motor neurons exhibit hyperexcitability. Scientific Report 5: 12189

6.   Du ZW, Chen H, Liu H, Lu J, Qian K, Huang CL, Zhong X, Fan F, Zhang SC. (2015) Generation and expansion of pure motor neuron precursors from human stem cells. Nature Communications 6: 6626

7.   Peng L, Adler M, Demogines A, Borrell A, Liu H, Tao L, Tepp WH, Zhang SC, Johnson EA, Sawyer SL and Dong M. (2014) Widespread sequence variations in VAMP1 across vertebrates suggest a potential selective pressure from botulium neurotoxins. PLoS Pathogen 10: e1004177.

8.   Chen H, Qian K, Du Z, Cao J, Petersen A, Liu H, Blackbourn LW, Huang C, Errigo A, Yin Y, Lu J, Ayala M and Zhang SC. (2014) Modeling ALS with iPSCs reveals that mutant SOD1 misregulates neurofilament balance in motor neurons. Cell Stem Cell 14: 796-809

9.   Liu H^*, Bai H^*, Xue R, Takahashi H, Edwardson JM and Chapman ER. (2014) Linker mutations reveal the complexity of synaptotagmin 1 action during synaptic transmission. Nature Neuroscience 17: 670-677

10.    Liu H^#, Bai H, Hui E, Yang L, Evans CS, Wang Z, Kwon SE and Chapman ER^#. (2014) Synaptotagmin 7 functions as a Ca²⁺-sensor for synaptic vesicle replenishment. eLife 3: e01524

11.    Liu H^#, Chapman ER and Dean C^#. (2013) "Self" versus "non-self" connectivity dictates properties of synaptic transmission and plasticity. PLoS One 8: e62414.

12.    Peng L, Liu H, Ruan H, Tepp WH, Stoothoff WH, Brown RH, Johnson EA, Yao WD, Zhang SC and Dong M. (2013) Cytotoxicity of botulinum neurotoxins reveals a direct role of syntaxin 1 and SNAP-25 in neuron survival. Nature Communications 4: 1472.

13.    Liu Y, Liu H., Sauvey C, Yao L, Zarnowska ED and Zhang SC. (2013) Directed differentiation of forebrain GABA interneurons from human pluripotent stem cells. Nature Protocols 8: 1670-1679.

14.    Lu J, Liu H, Huang CT, Chen H, Du Z, Liu Y, Sherafat MA and Zhang SC. (2013) Generation of integration-free and region-specific neural progenitors from primate fibroblasts. Cell Reports 3: 1580-1591.

15.    Liu, Y, Weick JP, Liu H, Krencik R, Zhang X, Ma L, Zhou GM, Ayala M and Zhang SC. (2013) Medial ganglionic eminence-like cells derived from human embryonic stem cells correct learning and memory deficits. Nature Biotechnology 31: 440-447.

16.    Dean C, Liu H, Staudt T, Stahlberg MA, Vingill S, Buckers J, Kamin D, Engelhardt J, Jackson MB, Hell SW and Chapman ER. (2012) Distinct subsets of Syt-IV/BDNF vesicles are sorted to axons versus dendrites and recruited to synapses by activity. The Journal of Neuroscience 32: 5398-5413.

17.    Dean C, Dunning FM, Liu H, Bomba-Warczak E, Martens H, Bharat V, Ahmed S and Chapman ER. (2012) Axonal and dendritic synaptotagmin isoforms revealed by a pHluorin-syt functional screen. Molecular Biology of the Cell 23: 1715-1727.

18.    Xi J, Liu Y, Liu H, Chen H, Emborg ME and Zhang SC. (2012) Specification of midbrain dopamine neurons from primate pluripotent stem cells. Stem Cells 30(8):1655-63. 

19.    Ma L, Hu B, Liu Y, Vermilyea SC, Liu H, Gao L, Sun Y, Zhang X and Zhang SC. (2012) Human embryonic stem cell-derived GABA neurons correct locomotion deficits in quinolinic acid-lesioned mice. Cell Stem Cell 10: 455-464.

20.    Liu H and Zhang SC. (2011) Specification of neuronal and glial subtypes from human pluripotent stem cells. Cellular and molecular Life Science 68: 3995-4008.

21.    Wang Z, Liu H, Gu Y and Chapman ER. (2011) Reconstituted synaptotagmin I mediate vesicle docking, priming, and fusion. The Journal of Cell Biology 195: 1159-1170.

22.    Sun S, Suresh S, Liu H, Tepp WH, Johnson EA, Edwardson JM and Chapman ER. (2011) Receptor binding enables botulinum neurotoxin B to sense low pH for translocation channel assembly. Cell Host & Microbe 10: 237-247.

23.    Liu H, Dean C, Arthur CP, Dong M and Chapman ER. (2009) Autapses and networks of hippocampal neurons exhibit distinct synaptic transmission phenotypes in the absence of synaptotagmin I. The Journal of Neuroscience 29: 7395-7403.

24.    Dean C, Liu H, Dunning FM, Chang PY, Jackson MB and Chapman ER. (2009) Synaptotagmin-IV modulates synaptic function and long-term potentiation by regulating BDNF release. Nature Neuroscience 12: 767-776.

25.    Wittenmayer N, Korber C, Liu H, Kremer T, Varoqueaux F, Chapman ER, Brose N, Kuner T and Dresbach T. (2009) Postsynaptic Neuroligin1 regulates presynaptic maturation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106: 13564-13569.

26.    Dong M, Liu H, Tepp WH, Johnson EA, Janz R and Chapman ER. (2008) Glycosylated SV2A and SV2B mediate the entry of botulinum neurotoxin E into neurons. Molecular Biology of the Cell 19, 5226-5237.

27.    Chicka MC, Hui E, Liu H and Chapman ER. (2008) Synaptotagmin arrests the SNARE complex before triggering fast, efficient membrane fusion in response to Ca2+. Nature Structure Molecular Biology 15: 827-835.