David R. Liu

Biography

David R. Liu is an accomplished chemist, biologist, and innovator. He currently serves as professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University, investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and vice-chair of the faculty and core institute member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Dr. Liu is also the recipient of numerous scientific distinctions, including the American Chemical Society Pure Chemistry and Arthur C. Cope Young Scholar Awards, the GlaxoSmithKline Chemistry Scholar Award, the AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Excellence in Chemistry Award, the Searle Scholars Award, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, the Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and the university-wide Roslyn Abramson Award for undergraduate teaching at Harvard. Dr. Liu was named to the Popular Science “Brilliant 10” for young scientists in the U.S., as well as to the MIT TR100 for young innovators. In 2016 he was named one of the Top 20 Translational Researchers by Nature Biotechnology. His accomplishments also include groundbreaking research leading to the foundation of Ensemble Therapeutics and Permeon Biologics.

Research Interest

His research has advanced the fields of therapeutics discovery, laboratory evolution, macromolecular delivery, and genome editing. Dr. Liu’s insight and breadth led him to be tapped to serve as a JASON, an elite group of scientists who advise the U.S. government on matters of science and technology. Dr. Liu holds a B.A. in chemistry from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.