The current research activities of Dr. Jialing Liu seek to understand how the brain responds to injuries caused by ischemic stroke, hypoglycemia or traumatic brain injury (TBI). The overarching goal of her research sought to better the understanding of how vascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome increase the risk of ischemic stroke and worsen the outcome of stroke, in order to develop effective therapies to improve the recovery and function. Her main research areas are summarized as the following topics: (1) Neurogenesis and functional recovery after brain injury; (2) Cerebral ischemia and neuroprotection; (3) Regeneration and rehabilitation therapy for TBI; (4) Development of novel imaging modality to assess collateral blood flow and vascular remodeling; (5) Innate immunity in response to stroke injury and metabolic inflammation; (6) Brain network and connectivity analysis; and (7) Assessing neural activity via in vivo multichannel electrophysiology. Dr. Liu has be able to incorporate cutting edge technology to advance her research. Many of her research programs have emerged since the beginning of this past RCS funding cycle and have evolved into productive work as demonstrated by peer reviewed publications, federal funding in VA and NIH awards. Since stroke, diabetes and TBI are major and unmet medical conditions among the veterans, her work in finding the mechanisms and effective therapies for these diseases will no doubt have a great impact on VA healthcare as well as on the advancement in basic research in her field. Besides keeping a productive research activity, Dr. Liu has established broad collaboration with investigators at her local VA and affiliate university, some of which have resulted in peer reviewed publications and federal funding. The recognition of her work has reached international community, so has been her collaborative research. She has also mentored a large number of scientists including junior faculty, post doctoral researchers and young scientists. Apart from her service to national VA and the professional societies, she has invaluable contribution in the neuroscience program of SFVA by being the scientific director of the neurobehavioral core facility. Currently she is serving her second term at the UCSF faculty council by representing the SFVA research community and improving the research interface between the VA and UCSF.
The current research activities of Dr. Jialing Liu seek to understand how the brain responds to injuries caused by ischemic stroke, hypoglycemia or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Due to the common occurrence of these types of brain injuries in our veteran population, her research is highly relevant to the mission of VA healthcare in serving our veterans. Through her career, she has tackled the fundamental issues in how brain recovers from injury from several key directions. One of the most interesting and important discoveries made is that the brain responded to injury by altering the growth and differentiation of the neuroprogenitor cells, which has sparked many research in her field. In recent years, she has employed cutting edge technology in blood flow imaging and developed new and productive research programs in studying how metabolic syndrome impacts brain injury and function.
