Engineered Nanostructures for Investigation and Regulation of Cellular Signaling Processes
Gang-yu Liu, Ph.D.
UC Davis
Abstract:
New and advanced methodologies, such as nanolithography, high-resolution cellular imaging, and mechanical property measurements, have been developed to investigate cancer cellular signaling processes that are otherwise difficult to probe. Three enabling aspects are discussed: First, this presentation will focus on the principle regarding the unique and advantageous aspects of these nanotechnology approaches in the context of revealing new insights into surface biochemistry. Second, how the nanostructures produced enable systematic investigations of surface bound ligand- cell interactions. Third, the impact of engineered nanostructure on the cellular signaling processes will be discussed. These topics, collectively, convey the conclusion that nanoengineering method provides a new generic platform for investigation and control of cellular behavior.
Biosketch:
Gang-yu Liu received her Ph.D. in 1992 from Princeton University with Giacinto Scoles. She then attained a Miller Research Fellowship and did her postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley with Miquel Salmeron and Y. T. Lee. Following her postdoc fellowship, she began her faculty career at Wayne State University in 1994 and got tenure and promotion in 1999. In 2001, she moved to UC Davis and attained her full professorship in 2005. She has won many awards including ACS Fellow, AAAS fellow, Arnold and Mable Beckman Young Investigator Award and Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award. Her primary research interests are nanoscience and nanobiotechnology, a community she serves diligently also as a senior editor for J. Phys. Chem. and standing member for NIH study section of nanobio. Her group invented several advanced techniques in nanolithography, bioimaging and single cell mechanics.