John Liu, MD, PhD

The Liu Lab at UCSF is an interdisciplinary basic and translational research group dedicated to advancing new treatments for malignant brain tumors and understanding mechanisms of treatment resistance. We develop and apply cutting-edge functional genomic approaches collaboratively to achieve this mission. In particular:

1) Discovery of novel cancer targets using functional genomics.
Advances in CRISPR/Cas9 technologies have enabled large-scale multiplexed genetic screening for novel therapeutic targets and genetic interaction mapping across many contexts. We use genome-wide CRISPR screens and in vivo perturb-seq to identify and characterize targets that render tumors more sensitive to treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

2) Role of DNA damage response in radiation treatment resistance.
The ability of cancer cells to repair DNA damage caused by radiation therapy is major barrier to effective treatments for patients with brain tumors. We are interested in targeting known and novel vulnerabilities in the DNA damage response to improve therapeutics against brain tumors such as adult and pediatric glioblastomas, among the deadliest primary brain tumors.

3) Epigenetic engineering as novel precision therapeutics for cancer
Engineered CRISPR/Cas9 systems enable control of gene expression and epigenetic state in cells and tumors. We develop epigenetic editing strategies for in vivo applications in oncology to understand and exploit the role of epigenetics in tumor progression and treatment resistance.