Tina Liu
Education
B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 2008
Ph.D. in Cell Biology, Harvard University, 2014
Biography
Tina Liu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a Resident Faculty Member of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Division of Medical Oncology within the Department of Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (RWJMS). Her research aims to explore the diverse and complex mechanisms of microbial defense systems, and use these insights to engineer novel tools for health and medicine.
Prior to arriving at Rutgers, Dr. Liu worked as a Senior Scientist at Beam Therapeutics, developing new technologies for genome editing. She did her postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Doudna (2020 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry). During her time at UC Berkeley, Dr. Liu defined the nucleic acid targeting preference of Type III CRISPR-Cas complexes and led a multidisciplinary team that developed tandem CRISPR nuclease chemistries for RNA detection and point-of-care COVID-19 diagnostics. She also completed her Ph.D. at Harvard University in Dr. Tom Rapoport’s lab, where she elucidated mechanisms of membrane shaping in the endoplasmic reticulum.
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, School of Arts & Sciences, Rutgers University
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University
Jerome and Lorraine Aresty Assistant Professor in Cancer Research, Rutgers University
Honors & Awards
NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA (F32) Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2016
American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2016 (declined)
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship, 2010
Service to the field:
Session Co-Chair, “Genome Engineering: CRISPR Frontiers 2022”, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2022
Chair, Gordon Research Seminar in Molecular Membrane Biology, 2015
Publications: