Yue (Harry) Liu

The Liu Centrosome & Cilium Lab (LCCL)

The Liu Centrosome & Cilium Lab (LCCL) seeks to uncover the blueprint that cells use to build centrosomes and cilia, and to understand how defects in these processes contribute to human health and diseases.

Imagine building a LEGO space station. The perfect blueprint is essential. The centrosome can be construed as a massive molecular space station. It is built with remarkable precision from approximately 200 different proteins, almost all of which exist in multiple copies. The cilium is a hair-like antenna that extends from the centrosome and acts as a local communication hub allowing the cell to sense external stimuli. We are interested in the fundamental principles that govern organelle architecture and how cells reorganize and adapt their organelles in response to environmental and developmental cues.

We combine expansion-enhanced super-resolution microscopy, phosphoproteomics, and single-molecule RNA detection with CRISPR-based genetic screens, mouse models, and infection systems to dissect how these organelles regulate heart development and shape host responses to bacterial infection. Some questions that the LCCL pursues are:

• What is the molecular blueprint for the centrosome?
• How cilia remodel during mouse heart development?
• How centrosomes and cilia impact Chlamydia infection?

We aim to reveal the core principles behind these remarkable cellular machines and inspire the next generation of scientists to think quantitatively, creatively, and mechanistically.