Michelle Tianqing Liu

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PhD, BPharm, MRSC
Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow - Pharmacologist/Natural Products Chemistry, NICM Health Research Institute


Dr Tianqing (Michelle) Liu joined NICM Health Research Institute in 2020 as Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, working in pharmacology. She has a long-standing interest in human cancers and neurological disorders, with her current research focus on the use of nanotechnology to overcome medical barriers in disease diagnosis and therapy.

Dr Liu has been recognised for scientific excellence with several grants, fellowships and awards including 2016 NHMRC Peter Doherty-Australian Biomedical Fellowship, 2015 Women in Technology Rising Star Award and as 2019 finalist for L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australian & New Zealand Fellowship for her work in developing nanomedicines for disease diagnosis and treatment.

She has a long-standing interest in biology and pathophysiology of human cancers and neurological disorders. Her current research focus is on the use of bio-inspired materials and nanotechnology to generate multifunctional nanostructures to overcome the current medical barriers in disease diagnosis and therapy. Her research is highly productive, leading to 85 original research publications, including 40 fist/last/corresponding author articles, in leading in leading journals such as ACS NANO (IF 18), Nano Letters (IF 12), Biomaterials (IF 15), Journal of Controlled Release (IF 11), Journal of Nanobiotechnology (IF 10) and ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (IF 10). She has given 36 presentations at national/international conferences, 15 of which were as invited speakers, 1 keynote and 1 plenary. Dr Liu has attracted significant research funding from various competitive funding agencies with a total of over $2 million.


Research focus

  • Design and synthesis of advanced biomaterials and their applications in cancer therapy and diagnosis, cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment, and neurological disorders treatment.
  • Mechanisms of iron-related cell death in diseased conditions.
  • Pathological roles of immune cells exosomes derived from immune cells in cancer and neurological disorders.

Awards and recognitions

  • 2023 Vice-Chancellor's Professional Development Award
  • 2022 Women in Nanobiotechnology, Journal of Nanobiotechnology
  • 2022 School of Science Early Career Research Excellence Award Highly commended
  • 2021Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA)
  • 2020 Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellowship, Western Sydney University
  • 2020 Journal C Best Paper Award, Journal of Carbon Research
  • 2019 Finalist of L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australian and New Zealand Fellowship
  • 2019 Finalist of ASMR Queensland Health and Medical Research Awards (Early Career)
  • 2018 The Bridge Program Best Team Pitch Presentation (selected by Pfizer and Novartis)
  • 2018 The Bridge Program Travel Award
  • 2016 NHMRC Peter Doherty - Australian Biomedical Fellowship
  • 2015 Women in Technology Rising Star Award
  • 2014 Chinese Academy of Science Visiting Fellowship for Overseas
  • 2013 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Studying Abroad

Affiliations

  • Member, Controlled Release Society
  • Member, Royal Society of Chemistry
  • Member, Australian Nanotechnology Network
  • Member, Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association
  • Member, Australian Society for Medical Research
  • Member, Gastroenterological Society of Australia
  • Member, Australia Chinese Association for Biomedical Science
  • Member, Australian Synchrotron
  • Member, Women in Technology
  • 2021-present Topic Editor and Editorial Board Member, Pharmaceutics
  • 2021-present Young Editorial Board Member, Exploration
  • 2021-present Academic Editor and Editorial Board Member, PLOS ONE
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Advanced Healthcare Materials
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Acta Biomaterialia
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Pharmaceutics
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Journal of Nanobiotechnology
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Cells
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Molecules
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Frontiers in Pharmacology
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Frontiers in Oncology
  • 2021-present Reviewer, Frontiers in Medical Technology
  • 2020-present Committee Member, Australian Academy of Science: National COVID-19 Expert Database
  • 2020-present Reviewer, ACS Applied Electronic Materials
  • 2019-present Member, Australia-China Pharmaceutical Innovation Network
  • 2019-present Reviewer, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
  • 2019-present Reviewer, ACS Sensors
  • 2018-present Executive Committee Chair, Australia-China Pharmaceutical Innovation Network
  • 2018-present Reviewer, Biomaterials
  • 2018-present Reviewer, International Journal of Nanomedicines
  • 2018-present Reviewer, Analyst
  • 2018-present Reviewer, Cellular Signalling
  • 2018-present Reviewer, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
  • 2017-present Reviewer, Nanoscale
  • 2017-present Reviewer, New Journal of Chemistry
  • 2017-present Reviewer, Molecular Pharmaceutics
  • 2017-present Reviewer, Theranostics
  • 2016-present Reviewer, Toxicology Letters
  • 2016-2018 Committee Member, Australian Society for Medical Research - Queensland
  • 2015-present Reviewer, RSC Advances

Education

  • 2014 PhD (Nanomedicine and Bionanomaterials), University of South Australia, Australia
  • 2007 Bachelor of Pharmacy (Advance Program), Wuhan University, China

Publications

For a full listing of publications please see: