Northwestern University · PharmacologyMetastasis and Immune Dynamics Lab
Huiping Liu · Evanston, Illinois
Research Focus
Dr. Huiping Liu's lab focuses on understanding cancer metastasis and developing new therapies, particularly for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and COVID-19. The lab investigates how tumor cells interact with the immune system and how these interactions can be targeted to block the spread of cancer. Additionally, the lab explores the potential of exosomes as diagnostic and therapeutic tools against COVID-19, aiming to improve outcomes for infected patients.
breast cancertriple-negative breast cancercirculating tumor cellsexosomesSARS-CoV-2biomarkersimmune interactionstherapeutic developmentmetastasis
Research Aims
5AIM 01Identify molecular regulators of circulating tumor cell-host immune interactions in triple-negative breast cancer.
AIM 02Dissect the mechanisms driving the formation of circulating tumor cell clusters.
AIM 03Develop therapeutic strategies targeting PlexinB2 in preclinical models of breast cancer.
AIM 04Establish a clinical assay for detecting ACE2+ exosomes in COVID-19 patients.
AIM 05Create exosomal ACE2-based therapeutics for broad strains of coronaviruses.
Skills the Lab Values
cell cultureflow cytometryproteomicsmouse modelsprotein interaction assaysexosome isolationdata analysisclinical assaystherapeutic antibody development
Output against the department
Publications612top 6% of dept.29th of 462
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations11ktop 36% of dept.167th of 462
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.