People
Jun Liu, PhD
Jun Liu is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at University of Toronto. He received B.Sc. (1989) from Peking University in Beijing, China and Ph.D. (1994) in Biophysics from Medical College of Wisconsin. He then carried out postdoctoral work in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California at Berkeley (1994-1998). He was Assistant (1998-2003), Associate (2003-2008) and then a Professor (2008-present) at the Department of Molecular Genetics at University of Toronto.
jun.liu@utoronto.ca
Ying Quan, MSc
Ying has been with the Liu Lab since 2019 and is the lab technician/manager. As a student she worked on sRNA biology in Mycobacteria and Streptomyces; she’s now doing a bit of everything while making sure that the lab is running smoothly!
ying.quan@utoronto.ca
Zhichang (Peter) Zhou, PhD
Peter completed his Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. His doctoral research centered on CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing for cystic fibrosis through the use of helper-dependent adenoviral vector (HD-Ad) delivery. In November 2021, he embarked on his post-doctoral journey in Liu’s lab. His primary focus is the development of HD-Ad-based intranasal vaccines to combat infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and tuberculosis. Notably, the HD-Ad vaccines designed for the COVID-19 have demonstrated promising results in terms of both efficacy and safety.
peterzc.zhou@mail.utoronto.ca
Jacqueline Watt, PhD student
Dongyeob (Peter) Lee, PhD student
Dongyeob (Peter) is from Korea and grew up in BC, Canada. He completed his Honours BSc in Molecular Genetics and Animal Physiology at the University of Toronto. He joined the Liu lab in January 2022, and is focused on investigating small RNAs and regulation of secondary metabolism in the antibiotic-producing bacteria Streptomyces.
dongyeob.lee@mail.utoronto.ca
Yuying Fan, PhD student
YuYing completed her undergraduate and Master of Science degrees at McMaster University. She started in the Liu lab in January 2022 and her current research focuses on the topic of mycobacterial small RNAs.
yuying.fan@mail.utoronto.ca
Ryan Pinch, undergraduate student
Born in Canada but coming from Singapore, Ryan is currently a 3rd year undergraduate in the Biochemistry Specialist program. This year, he is helping Dongyeob with his Streptomyces project by purifying proteins from Streptomyces and characterising their binding affinities.
LAB ALUMNI
Postdoctoral Fellows
Matt (Juntao) Mai: 2020/11-2021/11. Research Scientist at Abcellera.
Wenxi Xu: 2014/9-2016/10. Product Development Scientist at Standard BioTools.
Steven (Sang Kyun) Ahn: 2013/1-2017/10. Staff Scientist, C-CL3 Facility, University of Toronto.
Howard Song: 2011/1-2015/7. Clinician, Tuberculosis service, West Park Healthcare Centre.
Linru Wang:2008/2-2010/9. Staff Researcher, Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
David Alexander: 2001/1-2008/8. Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba.
Mazen Saleh: 2000/10-2002/8. Associate Professor, Laurentian University.
PhD degree students
Matt (Juntao) Mai: 2014/9-2020/11. Research Scientist at Abcellera.
Jackie Jingqian Liu: 2011/9-2017/7. Manager, Epidemiology at Clarivate.
Blair Gordon: 2007/9-2012/10. Vice President, Research and Development at Edesa Biotech.
Vanessa Tran: 2007/9-2013/9. Clinical Microbiologist, Public Health Ontario.
Jeffrey Chen:2000/1-2007/9. Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan.
Master's degree students
Angel Ly: 2019/9-2022/8. Lab Technician, CL3 Facility, University of Toronto.
Isobel Reckers: 2018/9-2022/9. Lab Technician, CL-3 Facility, University of Toronto.
Mark Ng: 2012/9-2016/3. Senior Scientist, TCR Discovery at Affini-T Therapeutics.
Andrea Leung: 2007/9-2010/4. Program Manager, University of Toronto.
Tracy Tan:2003/9-2006/7. Research Director, The Sentis Group.
Bonan Zhong, 2002/9-2005/3. Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific (Life Technologies)