Yuru Liu, PhD

Dr. Ying Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Her research is based on defining the mechanisms of alveolar repair involving the progenitor cell property of alveolar Type II cells.Dr. Liu has a strong background in the fields of lung development and lung repair. She has developed a translationally relevant mouse lung injury model by i.t. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and using this model identified Sca-1 as markers for reparative Type II cells and determined the role of FoxM1 and Wnt/Catenin in Type II cell proliferation and trans-differentiation leading to alveolar repair.Recently, her group has initiated new studies on Notch and Sphingosin-1-phosphate signaling as essential regulators of Type II cell mediated repair. Her lab is currently testing the hypothesis that the CD44 high AT2 behave as tumor initiating cells.