Yang Liu

Yang Liu
Yang Liu she/her/hers
  • Professor
(217) 244-6208
4047 Beckman Institute

Primary Research Area

  • Bioimaging at Multi-Scale

Research Areas

  • Bioinformatics
  • Biophotonics
  • Cancer
  • Cellular fate-determination and state transitions
  • Early cancer detection
  • Image reconstruction
  • Live-cell imaging
  • Single-cell biophysics
  • Single-molecule imaging
  • Tumor microenvironments

For More Information

Education

  • Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2006
  • M.S., Chemistry, University of Chicago, 2001

Academic Positions

  • Professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, January 2024 -  
  • Affiliate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, January 2024 -
  • Affiliate Professor, Cancer Center at Illinois, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, January 2024 - 
  • Member, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, January 2024 -
  • Professor, Departments of Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, June 2023 - December 2023
  • Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, June 2014 - May 2023
  • Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, May 2008 - May 2014
  • Senior Scientist, Johnson & Johnson, June 2006 - April 2008

Journal Editorships

  • 2019. Guest Editor, eLife
  • 2016 – Present. Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing Group.
  • 2022 – Present. Associate Editor, Biomedical Optics Express, Optica Publishing Group

Service on Department Committees

  • August 2016 – December 2023. Tenure and Promotion Committee, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh.
  • September 2016 – December 2023. GI Research Rounds Course Director, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh.
  • February 2018 – December 2023. PhD Task Force Member, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh.
  • June 2018 – December 2023. Cell and Tissue Imaging Facility Advisory Committee, University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center.

Service to Federal and State Government

  • 2020 – 2024. Standing Member. National Institute of Health, Instrumentation and Systems Development (ISD) Study Section.
  • 2020 - 2021. Reviewer and panelist, National Science Foundation, Genetic Mechanisms.
  • 2017 – 2018. Ad hoc member, National Institute of Health, Cellular and Molecular Technologies (CMT) study section.
  • 2015 – 2019. Ad hoc member, National Cancer Institute, Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Study Section.
  • 2015 – 2017. Ad hoc member, National Institute of Health, Enabling Bioanalytical and Imaging Technologies (EBIT) study section.
  • 2009 – 2014. Reviewer and panelist. National Science Foundation, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR).

Research Interests

  • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Engineering
  • Computational and Systems Biology
  • Bioimaging at Multi-scale

Primary Research Area

  • Bioimaging at Multi-Scale

Research Areas

  • Bioinformatics
  • Biophotonics
  • Cancer
  • Cellular fate-determination and state transitions
  • Early cancer detection
  • Image reconstruction
  • Live-cell imaging
  • Single-cell biophysics
  • Single-molecule imaging
  • Tumor microenvironments

Chapters in Books

  • Hongqiang Ma and Yang Liu, "Super-Resolution Imaging through Single-Molecule Localization," in Biomedical Optical Imaging: From Nanoscopy to Tomography, edited by Jun Xia and Regine Choe (AIP Publishing, Melville, New York, 2021), Chapter 4, pp. 4-1–4-26.

Selected Articles in Journals

Patents

  • H. Ma, Y. Liu, Hyper-throughput, multiplex, single molecule imaging platform, US Provisional Patent Application No. 63/440,600, January 23, 2023.
  • H. Ma, Y. Liu, Drift-free high-throughput localization microscopy, US Provisional Patent Application No. 63/420,847, October 31, 2022.
  • H. Ma, Y. Liu, Automated nanoscopy system having integrated artifact minimization modules, including embedded nanometer position tracking based on phasor analysis, US Provisional Patent Application No. 63/190,452, May 19, 2021.
  • Y. Liu, R.E. Brand, P. Wang, S. Fnu, Spatial-domain Low-coherence Quantitative Phase Microscopy, US Patent 11,105,686; Issue Date: August 31, 2021.
  • H. Ma, Y. Liu, System and method for estimating and compensating for sample drift during data acquisition in fluorescence microscopy, U.S. Patent 11,067,510; Issue Date: July 20, 2021.
  • H. Ma, Y. Liu, System and method for robust background correction for super-resolution localization microscopy, US Provisional Patent Application No. 62/624,932, March 2018.
  • Y. Liu, R.E. Brand, S. Uttam, H. Pham, Spatial-domain Low-coherence Quantitative Phase Microscopy, US Patent 10,156,479; Issue Date: Dec 18, 2018.
  • Y. Liu, S. Fnu, H. Pham. Depth-resolved spatial-domain low-coherence quantitative phase microscopy for unstained tissue and cell, US Patent 9,983,399, Issue date: May 29, 2018.
  • Y. Liu, Depth-selective Fiber-Optic Probe, US Patent 9,451,885; Issue date: Sept 27, 2016.
  • V. Backman, H. Roy, R. Brand, Y. Liu, J. Rogers, V. Turzhitsky, “Systems, methods and apparatuses of elastic light scattering spectroscopy and low coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy”, US Patent 8,131,348, Issue date: March 06, 2012.
  • V. Backman, Y. Liu, Y. Kim, H. Roy, M. Goldberg, R. Brand, P. Pradhan, S. Hariharan, “Method for identifying refractive-index fluctuations of a target”, US Patent 7,800,746, US Class 356/128, International Class G01N 21/41, Issue date: September 21, 2010.
  • V. Backman, Y. Liu, Y. Kim, “System for identifying refractive-index fluctuations of a target”, US Patent 7,667,832, US Class 356/128, International Class G01N 21/41, Issue date: February 23, 2010.
  • V. Backman, H. Roy, Y. L. Kim, Y. Liu, V. Turzhitsky, “Systems, methods, and apparatuses of low-coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy”, US Patent 7,652,772, US Class 356/497, International Class G01B 9/02, Issue date: January 26, 2010.
  • V. Backman, H. Roy, Y. L. Kim, Y. Liu, “Apparatus for recognizing abnormal tissue using the detection of early increase in microvascular blood content”, US patent application No. 20070129615 (Serial No. 11/604,659), US Class 600/315, International Class A61B 005/00, Issue date: June 7, 2007.

Honors

  • Melanoma SPORE Career Development Award (2009)
  • Wallace H. Coulter Phase I & II Translational Research Award, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation (2010, 2012)
  • 3Rivers Venture Fair Award for NanoVision Diagnostics, Office of Technology Management at University of Pittsburgh (2013)
  • Edmund Optics Higher Education Award (2013)
  • Pitt Innovator Award, University of Pittsburgh (2014)
  • Fast Tracker Award, Pittsburgh Business Times (2014)
  • Pitt Innovator Award, University of Pittsburgh (2016)
  • Hillman Fellow for Innovative Cancer Research (2019 )
  • Fellow, SPIE (The International Society for Optics and Photonics) (2020)
  • Fellow, Optica (formerly Optical Society of America) (2022 )