Kai Liu received his Bachelor degree from School of Life Sciences at Peking University in 1998, and received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University at New Brunswick in 2006. Then he did his postdoc research at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School. He joined Division of Life Science at HKUST as Assistant Professor in 2011. His research interest focuses on the intrinsic mechanisms regulating axonal regeneration and functional repair after central nervous system injuries.

Research Question

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of axonal regeneration failure in adult mammalian central nervous system.

Representative Publications

1. Chen W*, Wu J*, Yang C*, Li S, Liu Z, An Y, Wang XJ, Cao J, Xu J, Duan Y, Yuan X, Zhang X, Zhou Y, Ip J PK, Fu A KY, Ip NY, Yao ZP, Liu K. Lipin1 depletion coordinates neuronal signaling pathways to promote motor and sensory axon regeneration after spinal cord injury. PNAS, 2024 Sep 24;121(39):e2404395121.
2. Wang X*, Yang C*, Wang XJ, Miao J, Chen W, Zhou Y, Xu Y, An Y, Cheng A, Ye W, Chen M, Song D, Yuan X, Wang J, Qian P, Wu AR, Zhang ZY, Liu K. Driving Axon Regeneration by Orchestrating Neuronal and Non-neuronal Innate Immune Responses via the IFNγ-cGAS-STING Axis. Neuron, 2023 Jan 18;111(2):236-255.
3. Yang C*, Wang X*, Wang JY, Wang XJ, Chen W, Lu N, Siniossoglou S, Yao ZP, Liu K. Rewiring neuronal glycerolipid metabolism determines the extent of axon regeneration. Neuron, 2020 Jan 22;105(2):276-292.
4. Li S*, Yang C*, Zhang L, Gao X, Wang X, Liu W, Wang Y, Jiang S, Wong YH, Zhang Y, Liu K. Promoting axon regeneration in the adult CNS by modulation of the melanopsin/GPCR signaling. PNAS. 2016 Feb 16;113(7):1937-42.
5. Du K*, Zheng S*, Zhang Q*, Li S, Gao X, Wang J, Jiang L, Liu K. Pten deletion promotes regrowth of corticospinal tract axons 1 year after spinal cord injury. Journal of Neuroscience 2015 July 1;35(26): 9754-9763.

Positions of Research Assistants at Bachelor or Master/MPhil levels are immediately available.

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