People Faculty

YANG LIU, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Assistant Professor,  Department of Bioengineering

Email: Phone: (412) 623-0036 Fax: (412) 623-4887 Office: HCCLB 2.35

Education

B.S., Chemistry, Nankai University, China, 1999
M.S., Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 2002
Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering (Biomedical Optics), Northwestern University, 2006

Professional Interests

Dr. Liu's research is primarily in the emerging interdisciplinary field of biomedical optical imaging and spectroscopy from tissue to cellular and molecular level, involving electrical engineering, physics, optics, medicine and biology. The main goal of the research is to develop advanced non-invasive optical technologies to address basic biological questions and translate them into clinical practice and patient care.  Her current interests include (1) developing multi-modal spectroscopy and imaging technologies for early diagnosis, surveillance and prevention of cancers, (2) development of miniaturized minimally invasive endoscope-compatible light-based devices for in vivo diagnosis, (3) identification of connections between diagnostic optical markers and physiological parameters, (4) spectroscopic investigation of microvascular physiology.

Dr. Liu joined Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition in the Department of Medicine and Department of Bioengineering in May 2008 following two years of industrial experience with Johnson & Johnson, where she worked on developing optical methods to assess skin in a non-invasive manner. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, she was a graduate student at Northwestern University where she developed several novel optical technologies that have shown great potential of a highly accurate and minimally invasive test for cancer screening.

Selected Publications

• Liu Y, Brand RE, Turzhitsky V, Kim YL, Roy HK, Hasabou N, Sturgis C, Shah D, Hall C, Backman V. Optical markers in duodenal mucosa predict the presence of pancreatic cancer, Clin Cancer Res. 2007;13(15 Pt 1):4392-9. (featured article) National Science Foundation Press Release: http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=109781&org=NSF&from=news.
• Liu Y, Li X, Kim YL, Backman V. Elastic backscattering spectroscopic microscopy. Opt Lett. 2005;30(18):2445-7.
• Roy HK, Liu Y, Wali RK, Kim YL, Kromin A, Goldberg MJ, Backman V. Four-dimensional elastic light-scattering fingerprints as preneoplastic markers in the rat model of colon carcinogenesis, Gastroenterology. 2004;126:1071-81.
• Liu Y, Kim YL, Li X, Backman V. Investigation of depth selectivity of polarization gating for tissue characterization. Opt Express. 2005; 13(2):526-33.
• Liu Y, Kim YL, Backman V. Development of a bioengineered tissue model and its application in the investigation of the depth selectivity of polarization gating. Appl Opt. 2005;44(12):2288-99.
  
• Allen J, Liu Y, Kim YL, Turzhitsky VM, Backman V, Ameer GA. Spectroscopic translation of cell-material interactions, Biomaterials. 2007;28:162-74.
• Roy HK, Wali RK, Kim YL, Liu Y, Hart J, Kunte DP, Koetsier JL, Goldberg MJ, Backman V. Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) Mediates the Early Increase of Blood Supply (EIBS) in a Pre-dysplastic Stage of Colon Carcinogenesis, FEBS Lett. 2007; 581(20): 3857-62.
• Figueiredo R, Backman V, Liu Y, Paladugula J. Architecture and performance of a grid-enabled lookup-based biomedical optimization application: Light scattering spectroscopy. IEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed. 2007;11(2):170-8.
• Roy HK, Kim YL, Liu Y, Wali RK, Goldberg MJ, Turzhitsky V, Horwitz J, Backman V. Risk-stratification of colon carcinogenesis through Enhanced Backscattering (EBS) spectroscopy analysis of the uninvolved colonic mucosa. Clin Cancer Res. 2006;12(3 Pt 1):961-8.
• Xia X, Liu Y, Backman V, Ameer G. Engineering sub-100 nm multi-layer nanoshells. Nanotechnol. 2006;17:5435-40.
• Kim YL, Liu Y, Turzhitsky VM, Wali RK, Roy HK, and Backman V. Depth-resolved low-coherent backscattering in tissue. Opt Lett. 2005;30(7):741-3.
• Kim YL, Liu Y, Wali RK, Roy HK, Backman V. Low-coherent backscattering spectroscopy for tissue characterization. Appl Opt. 2005;44(3):366-77.
• Wali RK, Roy HK, Kim YL, Liu Y, Goldberg MJ, Turzhitsky V, and Backman V. Increased microvascular blood content is an early event in colon carcinogenesis. Gut. 2005;54(5):654-60.
• Kim YL, Liu Y, Turzhitsky V, Roy HK, Wali RK and Backman V. Coherent backscattering spectroscopy. Opt Lett. 2004;29(16):1906-8.
• Kim YL, Liu Y, Wali RK, Roy HK, Goldberg MJ, Kromin A, Chen K and Backman V. Simultaneous measurement of angular and spectral properties of light scattering for characterization of tissue microarchitecture and its alteration in early precancer, IEEE J Sel Top Quantum Electron. 2003;9(2):243-56.

Open Positions

    We are currently looking for innovative and enthusiatic graduate students and postdoctoral scientists to join our team. The candidate will focus on developing advanced multi-modal optical instruments and miniaturized minimally invasive endoscope-compatible light-based devices for early cancer diagnosis, prevention and treatment. A background in biomedical engineering, physics, electrical engineering or a related field, with experience in optics, signal processing and data analysis is highly desirable.