Improving leukemia treatment through the development and application of innovative therapeutic approaches

The Liu laboratory is interested in investigating the molecular mechanisms governing normal and malignant hematopoiesis, with an emphasis on understanding hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal and pathogenesis of hematological malignancies, including clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Our long-term goals are to identify novel regulators of HSC self-renewal, understand the molecular mechanisms regulating their function, and develop novel therapeutic strategies to eliminate leukemia stem cells (LSCs) and improve leukemia treatment. We utilize molecular, genetic, immunological, biochemical, and pharmacological approaches as well as unbiased genome wide studies, including RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, HiC, and whole genome sequencing, as well as proteomic approaches to investigate the molecular basis of HSC self-renewal and leukemogenesis.