A/prof Tao Liu

Biography

 Associate Professor Tao Liu leads the Histone Modification group at Children's Cancer Institute. Originally trained as a medical practitioner specialising in neurology, A/Prof Tao Liu studied for a PhD at UNSW Australia on the role of inflammatory mediators in chronic pain due to nerve injury. He then worked on the role of MIC-1, a new member of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily, in cancer cell proliferation, survival/apoptosis and metastasis at St Vincent's Centre for Applied Medical Research. Tao moved to Children's Cancer Institute as a Senior Research Officer in 2003. Since 2004, he has been focusing his research on the roles of histone deacetylases, histone demethylases, histone methyltransferases and long noncoding RNAs in modulating gene transcription and tumourigenesis, and the roles of histone deacetylase inhibitors and histone methyltransferase inhibitors as anticancer agents. In the past five years, Tao has been awarded research grants from various external funding bodies including Cure Cancer Australia, Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Institute NSW, National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC, Australia) and National Institutes of Health (USA). He was promoted to Project Leader in 2009 and Group Leader in 2011. Over the past decade, Tao has authored a number of peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals including the well-known Lancet, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, PLOS Genetics and Cell Death & Differentiation. A/Prof Liu is a conjoint associate professor at UNSW.

Research Interest

 Associate Professor Tao Liu leads the Histone Modification group at Children's Cancer Institute. Originally trained as a medical practitioner specialising in neurology, A/Prof Tao Liu studied for a PhD at UNSW Australia on the role of inflammatory mediators in chronic pain due to nerve injury. He then worked on the role of MIC-1, a new member of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily, in cancer cell proliferation, survival/apoptosis and metastasis at St Vincent's Centre for Applied Medical Research. Tao moved to Children's Cancer Institute as a Senior Research Officer in 2003. Since 2004, he has been focusing his research on the roles of histone deacetylases, histone demethylases, histone methyltransferases and long noncoding RNAs in modulating gene transcription and tumourigenesis, and the roles of histone deacetylase inhibitors and histone methyltransferase inhibitors as anticancer agents. In the past five years, Tao has been awarded research grants from various external funding bodies including Cure Cancer Australia, Cancer Council NSW, Cancer Institute NSW, National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC, Australia) and National Institutes of Health (USA). He was promoted to Project Leader in 2009 and Group Leader in 2011. Over the past decade, Tao has authored a number of peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals including the well-known Lancet, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, PLOS Genetics and Cell Death & Differentiation. A/Prof Liu is a conjoint associate professor at UNSW.