The LIU LAB

Electron Tomography at Yale University

Huaxin Yu

Postdoctoral Fellow (2022-Present)

PhD, University of Hyogo, Japan 


Zamba-Campero M, Soliman D, Yu H, Lasseter AG, Chang YY, Silberman JL, Liu J, Aravind L, Jewett MW, Storz G, Adams PP. Broadly conserved FlgV controls flagellar assembly and Borrelia burgdorferi dissemination in mice. Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 29;15(1):10417.







Jian YuE

Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-Present)

PhD, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)






Lab Gallery

jun liu, ph.d.

Professor

Department of Microbial Pathogenesis

Microbial Sciences Institute

Yale School of Medicine


Ph.D. Physics, Institute of PhysicsChinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (1995-1998)

Postdoctorial Fellow, Florida State University, Florida, USA (1998-2006)

​Staff Scientist, National Cancer InstituteNational Institutes of Health, USA (2006-2007)

Assistant Professor & Associate Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, UTHealth (2007-2017)

Shoichi Tachiyama

Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-Present)

PhD, Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Kansas

Tachiyama S, Chan KL, Liu XL, Hathroubi S, Peterson B, Khan MF, Ottemann KM, Liu J, Roujeinikova A: The flagellar motor protein FliL forms a scaffold of circumferentially positioned rings required for stator activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022, 119 (4) e2118401119.

Liu X, Tachiyama S, Zhou X, Mathias RA, Bonny SQ, Khan MF, Xin V, Roujeinikova A, Liu J, and Ottemann KM. Bacterial flagella hijack type IV pili proteins to control motility. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023

Jiaqi Guo

PostDoctoral Fellow (2025-Present)

PhD, Brandeis University, USA






Jennifer Aronson

Lab Coordinator (2020-Present)​






Wangbiao (Seven) Guo

PostDoctoral Fellow (2021-Present)

PhD, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China


Carroll BL, Nishikino T, Guo W, Zhu S, Kojima S, Homma M, Liu J: The flagellar motor of Vibrio alginolyticus undergoes major structural remodeling during rotational switching. Elife. 2020 Sep 7;9:e61446.

Kurniyati K, Chang Y, Guo W, Liu J, Malkowski MG, Li C. Anti-σ28 Factor FlgM Regulates Flagellin Gene Expression and Flagellar Polarity of Treponema denticola. J Bacteriol. 2023 Feb 22;205(2):e0046322​​

Rajeev Kumar

Postdoctoral Fellow (2024-Present)






LaBraDoodle  - SmokeY




Jiaqi (Clem) Wang

Postdoctoral Fellow (2025-Present)

PhD, Hokkaido University, Japan






​​

SAMIRA HEYDAYI

Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-Present)


Heydari S, Liu J. High-throughput cryo-electron tomography enables multiscale visualization of the inner life of microbes. Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2025 May16;93:103065. PMID:40381356.





Jack BoTTing

Research Assistant II (2023-Present)

MS, UGA, USA

Botting JM, Tachiyama S, Giboson KH, Liu J, Starai VJ, Hoover TR: FlgV forms a flagellar motor ring that is required for optimal motility of Helicobacter pylori. PLoS One 2023 18(11):e0287514.

​Botting JM, Rahman MK, Xu H, Yue J, Guo W, Del Mundo JT, Hammel M, Motaleb MA, Liu J: FlbB forms a distinctive ring essential for periplasmic flagellar assembly and motility in Borrelia burgdorferi. PLoS Pathog. 2025 Jan 8;21(1):e1012812.






​Updated on May 20, 2025

Erin McCrum, UT Houston Medical School, Summer Intern 2008

       

Sherille Bradley, Texas State University, Summer Intern 2009


Xiaofeng Fu, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010


Gianmarco Raddi, Rice University, Summer Intern 2010


Charles Chen, Duke University, Summer intern 2010


Yesha Zheng, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011

                       

Dustin Morado, Georgia Tech, Summer intern 2010, 2011


Sam Ruder, Rice University, Summer Intern 2012


Martin Chien, China Medical University, Taiwan, Summer intern 2012

Sang (Michael) Xie, Clements High School, Summer intern 2012


Hongyi Shi, Los Altos High School, Los Altos, CA, Summer intern 2012

                        

Brian A. Tong, Bellaire High School, Summer intern 2010, 2011, 2012


Alan Pan, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, Summer intern 2012, 2013


Xiaomin Li, Visiting Student, 2013​​​


​Jonas Actor, University of Chicago, Summer intern 2014


Qiang Chen, Visiting Student, 2014


Jiagang Tu, Postdoctoral fellow, 2012-2015


Xiaowei Zhao, Postdoctoral fellow, 2010-2015


​Wei-Ting Lin,  Fu Jen Catholic University, Summer intern 2015


Madeline Farley, Postdoctoral fellow, 2015-2016


Wendy Wang, Research Assistant, 2015-2016


Dustin Morado, Research Assistant, 2014-2017


Xiangan Liu, Research Assistant Professor 2015-2017


David Burton, University of Montana, Summer Intern 2017


Jeffery Yang, Emory University, Summer Intern 2017


​Bo Hu, Postdoctoral fellow 2010-2016; Assistant Professor 2016-2017


Tatsuro Nishikino, Nagoya University, Visiting Student 2018


Benjamin Crair, Guilford High School, Summer Intern 2018, 2019


Zhuan Qin, Postdoctoral fellow 2015-2018


Meijing Li, Tshinghua University, Visiting Student 2018


Wenwei Li, Postdoctoral fellow, 2017-2019


​Shiwei Zhu, Postdoctoral fellow, 2016-2019


Pei Wang, Institute of Biophysics (Beijing), Visiting Student, 2019


Katherine Haney Gibson, University of Georgia, Visiting Student, 2019


Cedric Hu, University of Rochester, Summer Intern, 2019; Research Assistant, 2021-2022


Liuqi Zhu, Nantong University, Visiting Student, 2019


Kevin Zhao, UCLA, Summer Student, 2019


Jun He, ShanghaiTech, Visiting Student, 2018-2019


Xia Li, Nantong University, China, Visiting Professor, 2017-2019


Xinrui Huang, Beijing University, Visiting Professor, 2019-2020


Ze Li, Fudan University, Visiting Professor, 2018-2020


​Qin Gong, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Postdoctoral fellow, 2019-2020


Brittany Carrell, University of Vermont, Postdoctoral fellow, 2019-2021


David Chetrit, Associate Research Scientist, 2020 


Yunjie Chang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Postdoctoral fellow, 2017-2021


Meng Shao, Research Assistant, 2019-2021


Donghyun (Raphael) Park, Graduate Student, 2017-2022


Shuaiqi (Phil) Guo, Associate Research Scientist, 2020-2023 


Liang Chen, Florida State University, Visiting Student, 2022-2023


Jing Cheng, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2024


Ana Afonso, Visiting Student, University of Porto, Portugal, 2023-2024


Randy Liu, High School Student, Amity High School, Woodbridge, 2024


Chunyan Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2024


Aiden Tischer, Summer Student, University of Vermont, 2024


Sarah W. Zhang, Summer Student, Beverly Hills High School, 2024


Fred Xiao, Summer Student, Amity Regional High School, 2024


Justin Zhao, Summer Student, Jericho Senior High School, 2024


Hang (Hannie) Zhao, Visiting Scholar, 2024

Alumni 

Lab Members