Ronglih Liao Lab

The Liao Laboratory’s research has been centered upon the interrogation of cardiovascular physiology, from the cellular level to the organismal level, to understand the molecular underpinnings of human heart disease.

Dr. Liao's research approaches attempt to bridge the growing span between basic bench research and patient care, with a goal towards identifying novel therapeutic targets for rapid translation into clinical medicine. Specifically, we have been focusing on three major areas:

1) Discovering novel mechanisms underlying the development of AL and ATTR amyloid cardiomyopathy;

2) Establishing functional and molecular links among mitochondrial dynamics, metabolic regulation, and the development of heart disease;

3) Understanding the role of extracellular vesicles and circulating RNA in the development of cardiovascular disease.

Our work has led to the publication of more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific reports in high-quality scientific journals, including Nature Medicine, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Circulation, Circulation Research, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, EMBO Molecular Medicine, and Molecular Cell Biology.

Recent News

August 2019

One more reason to quit smoking if you’re pregnant: New findings from our postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Katharina Schimmel, showing the detrimental impact of cigarette smoking during pregnancy on the resilience of newborn hearts to cardiac stress and injury. This work was presented by Dr. Schimmel at AHA 2019 BCVS Early Career Preconference Session and highlighted  by American Heart Association News.

Awards

October 2021

Frank Lin was funded by 2021 Translational Research and Applied Medicine (TRAM) Pilot Grant to elucidate the role of inflammation in light chain amyloidosis pathophysiology.

October 2019

Dr. Katharina Schimmel was chosen as a recipient of the 2019 Vevo Travel Award (Cardiology Track), sponsored by FUJIFILM VisualSonics Inc. for her cardiac imaging work in newborn mice.