Q&A with Professor Yang Liu

We are excited to welcome new faculty member Professor Yang Liu to the department of bioengineering! To get to know Professor Liu a little better, we asked her a few questions about her background, her work, and what makes bioengineering important to her. 

Q: Tell us about your academic background and your emphasis within bioengineering.

A: I was originally trained as a chemist; I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. I then went on and studied physical chemistry at the University of Chicago. I did my PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern and took an industry job after my graduation. I spent two years at Johnson and Johnson, where I applied my skills in optical spectroscopy to characterize skin to learn about sun damage. But I missed academic freedom, and so I joined the Department of Medicine with a secondary appointment in bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. I stayed there for 15 years before I came here. In Pittsburgh, my work involved using various types of biophotonic techniques or optical microscopy techniques to identify biomarkers for early cancer detection.

Q: What makes you passionate about bioengineering?

A: Bioengineering is such an interdisciplinary field. In bioengineering, you can find people from almost all scientific backgrounds; chemistry, physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, material science, you name it. I have always been passionate about learning things in different fields, so bioengineering is a perfect field for me. Sometimes when I was a student, people would ask “why don't you go to a more traditional field?” But in a more traditional department, you don’t always see theory and practice interact the way you do in BIOE. After my experience working in industry, I realized even more that you really need those people who understand both worlds. 

Q: What project are you working on right now that you are particularly excited about? 

A: One thing I'm particularly interested in right now is detecting very subtle changes in cell nuclei in the hopes that we can identify how those changes might predict cancer or other health indicators. You might have a watch that tracks your physiological parameters and can predict the status of your health; we are trying to do something similar with cells. We want to be able to predict which kind of cell behavior will lead to drug resistance, or cell death. The technology itself has lots of potential uses for not just discovering the basic biological behavior of cells, but drug screening, assessing drug efficacy and resistance, figuring out how we can detect cancer early, identifying cancer cells before they become malignant, and more.

Q: What made you choose UIUC?

A: The first appeal was the students. Grainger is one of the best engineering schools in the world, and has the ability to attract the top engineering students. Having access to that large pool of talented engineering students is very exciting. That was really the number one reason for me to come here. 

UIUC is also well-known for their imaging science, and there's a common interest here in identifying how one specific imaging area could also be applied in other imaging technologies. That environment was a great attraction to me. And then there was also the Center for Label-free Imaging and Multiscale Biophotonics (CLIMB) here on campus, which fits my interests very well. It’s just a great environment overall.

Q: What advice do you have for students? 

A: My advice to students is to focus on the act of solving problems. Technology changes fast; sometimes the specific knowledge you learn today may be outdated 10 years later, which is why the most important thing in education is developing the logical thinking and the resilience you need to problem-solve. When you’re trying to solve problems, most of the time your solution probably won't work. And that’s just part of the process. Getting through that process and developing the patience to keep trying is super critical in the long term. 

Q: What do you like to do when you're not working?

A: I work a lot! But when I’m not working, I spend time with my 11 year old son. I find joy in spending time with him. I am also interested in better understanding human psychology, so I listen to podcasts and audiobooks and try to learn more about human behavior. Learning about why people do what they do is very interesting to me.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to share?

A: I'm recruiting undergraduate, master’s, and PhD students for my lab. My lab is really interdisciplinary, so we have projects for people who are interested in instrumentation, programming, data science, informatics, and biology. 

If you are interested in joining the Liu lab, reach out to Professor Liu at liuy46@illinois.edu.