RESEARCH
The main research interest of Prof Jianjun Liu’s lab is to understand the genetic basis of human disease inheritance and susceptibility. Mainly focusing on complex diseases, his lab pursues collaborative research to discover genetic variants that influence disease susceptibility, progression and treatment outcome by employing both candidate gene-based and genome-wide association analyses. Largely working on Asian populations, his laboratory researches on diverse disease phenotypes, including cancers, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, neurological and psychiatric disorders, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, and infectious diseases, which have led to the discovery of many novel susceptibility genes for human complex diseases. Prof Liu’s research also covers pharmacogenomics, particularly the discovery of biomarkers for adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in Asian populations. Recently, Prof Liu has expanded his research to population genomics, for example the SG10K project where 10,000 Singaporeans are being subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis. Such population genomic researches are not only driving various precision medicine programs around the world to explore the application of large-scale genomic data in improving clinical and health services, but also facilitating the understanding of genetic structure of modern human populations as well as the extent and distribution of disease predisposing genetic variation in current populations as the result of a long and complicated evolutionary, migratory, and demographic history of human species.
In addition, Prof Liu’s lab is also exploring new research directions. For example, his lab is exploring EMR-based genomics where large-scale EMR information and genomic data are being integrated to advance understanding on disease development. Another new direction of research is genome-genome interaction analysis, for example pathogen-host genome interaction in infectious diseases as well as the interaction between germline and somatic mutation in in cancer development.
Prof Liu’s lab has also been funded to provid support for many national research programs in Singapore. In particular, he has led the genetic studies of Singapore’s Translational & Clinical Research (TCR) programs on Heart Failure, Parkinson’s Disease and Schizophrenia as well as A*STAR Strategic Position Funding (SPF) programs on cardiovascular disease (ATTRaCT) and pharmacogenomics (SAPhIRE). More recently, his lab has been supporting the large-scale genotyping and WGS analysis for Singapore’s Large Collaborative Grant (LCG) on T2D related complications and the National Precision Medicine program.
Selected Publications
- Wu, D., J. Dou, X. Chai, C. Bellis, A. Wilm, C.C. Shih, W.W.J. Soon, N. Bertin, C.B. Lin, C.C. Khor, M. DeGiorgio, S. Cheng, L. Bao, N. Karnani, W.Y.K. Hwang, S. Davila, P. Tan, A. Shabbir, A. Moh, E.K. Tan, J.N. Foo, L.L. Goh, K.P. Leong, R.S.Y. Foo, C.S.P. Lam, A.M. Richards, C.Y. Cheng, T. Aung, T.Y. Wong, H.H. Ng, S.K. Consortium, J. Liu, and C. Wang "Large-Scale Whole-Genome Sequencing of Three Diverse Asian Populations in Singapore." Cell, 2019. 179(3): p. 736-749 e15.2019/10/19. Abstract
- Xu M, Yao Y, Chen H, Zhang S, Cao SM, Zhang Z, Luo B, Liu Z, Li Z, Xiang T, He G, Feng QS, Chen LZ, Guo X, Jia WH, Chen MY, Zhang X, Xie SH, Peng R, Chang ET, Pedergnana V, Feng L, Bei JX, Xu RH, Zeng MS, Ye W, Adami HO, Lin X, Zhai W, Zeng YX, Liu J "Genome sequencing analysis identifies Epstein-Barr virus subtypes associated with high risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma." Nat Genet 2019 Jul ; 51(7) : 1131-1136 Abstract
- Lam, M., C.Y. Chen, Z. Li, A.R. Martin, J. Bryois, X. Ma, H. Gaspar, M. Ikeda, B. Benyamin, B.C. Brown, R. Liu, W. Zhou, L. Guan, Y. Kamatani, S.W. Kim, M. Kubo, A. Kusumawardhani, C.M. Liu, H. Ma, S. Periyasamy, A. Takahashi, Z. Xu, H. Yu, F. Zhu, C. Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics, C. Indonesia Schizophrenia, R.o.s.n.-C. Genetic, N. the, W.J. Chen, S. Faraone, S.J. Glatt, L. He, S.E. Hyman, H.G. Hwu, S.A. McCarroll, B.M. Neale, P. Sklar, D.B. Wildenauer, X. Yu, D. Zhang, B.J. Mowry, J. Lee, P. Holmans, S. Xu, P.F. Sullivan, S. Ripke, M.C. O'Donovan, M.J. Daly, S. Qin, P. Sham, N. Iwata, K.S. Hong, S.G. Schwab, W. Yue, M. Tsuang, J. Liu, X. Ma, R.S. Kahn, Y. Shi, and H. Huang "Comparative genetic architectures of schizophrenia in East Asian and European populations." Nat Genet, 2019. 51(12): p. 1670-1678.2019/11/20. Abstract
- Ai Z, Li M, Liu W, Foo JN, Mansouri O, Yin P, Zhou Q, Tang X, Dong X, Feng S, Xu R, Zhong Z, Chen J, Wan J, Lou T, Yu J, Zhou Q, Fan J, Mao H, Gale D, Barratt J, Armour JA, Liu J, Yu X "Low α-defensin gene copy number increases the risk for IgA nephropathy and renal dysfunction." Sci Transl Med 2016 06 29 ; 8(345) : 345ra88 Abstract
- Zhang FR, Liu H, Irwanto A, Fu XA, Li Y, Yu GQ, Yu YX, Chen MF, Low HQ, Li JH, Bao FF, Foo JN, Bei JX, Jia XM, Liu J, Liany H, Wang N, Niu GY, Wang ZZ, Shi BQ, Tian HQ, Liu HX, Ma SS, Zhou Y, You JB, Yang Q, Wang C, Chu TS, Liu DC, Yu XL, Sun YH, Ning Y, Wei ZH, Chen SL, Chen XC, Zhang ZX, Liu YX, Pulit SL, Wu WB, Zheng ZY, Yang RD, Long H, Liu ZS, Wang JQ, Li M, Zhang LH, Wang H, Wang LM, Xiao P, Li JL, Huang ZM, Huang JX, Li Z, Liu J, Xiong L, Yang J, Wang XD, Yu DB, Lu XM, Zhou GZ, Yan LB, Shen JP, Zhang GC, Zeng YX, de Bakker PI, Chen SM, Liu JJ "HLA-B*13:01 and the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome." N Engl J Med 2013 Oct 24 ; 369(17) : 1620-8 Abstract
- Tan DE, Foo JN, Bei JX, Chang J, Peng R, Zheng X, Wei L, Huang Y, Lim WY, Li J, Cui Q, Chew SH, Ebstein RP, Kuperan P, Lim ST, Tao M, Tan SH, Wong A, Wong GC, Tan SY, Ng SB, Zeng YX, Khor CC, Lin D, Seow AL, Jia WH, Liu J. "Genome-wide association study of B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma identifies 3q27 as a susceptibility locus in the Chinese population." Nat Genet. 2013 Jun 9;45(7):804-7. Abstract
- Yu XQ, Li M, Zhang H, Low HQ, Wei X, Wang JQ, Sun LD, Sim KS, Li Y, Foo JN, Wang W, Li ZJ, Yin XY, Tang XQ, Fan L, Chen J, Li RS, Wan JX, Liu ZS, Lou TQ, Zhu L, Huang XJ, Zhang XJ, Liu ZH, Liu JJ. "A genome-wide association study in Han Chinese identifies multiple susceptibility loci for IgA nephropathy." Nat Genet. 2011 Dec 25;44(2):178-82. doi: 10.1038/ng.1047. Abstract
- Bei JX, Li Y, Jia WH, Feng BJ, Zhou G, Chen LZ, Feng QS, Low HQ, Zhang H, He F, Tai ES, Kang T, Liu ET, Liu J, Zeng YX. "A genome-wide association study of nasopharyngeal carcinoma identifies three new susceptibility loci." Nat Genet. 2010 Jul;42(7):599-603. Epub 2010 May 30. Abstract
- Zhang FR, Huang W, Chen SM, Sun LD, Liu H, Li Y, Cui Y, Yan XX, Yang HT, Yang RD, Chu TS, Zhang C, Zhang L, Han JW, Yu GQ, Quan C, Yu YX, Zhang Z, Shi BQ, Zhang LH, Cheng H, Wang CY, Lin Y, Zheng HF, Fu XA, Zuo XB, Wang Q, Long H, Sun YP, Cheng YL, Tian HQ, Zhou FS, Liu HX, Lu WS, He SM, Du WL, Shen M, Jin QY, Wang Y, Low HQ, Erwin T, Yang NH, Li JY, Zhao X, Jiao YL, Mao LG, Yin G, Jiang ZX, Wang XD, Yu JP, Hu ZH, Gong CH, Liu YQ, Liu RY, Wang DM, Wei D, Liu JX, Cao WK, Cao HZ, Li YP, Yan WG, Wei SY, Wang KJ, Hibberd ML, Yang S, Zhang XJ, Liu JJ. "Genomewide association study of leprosy." N Engl J Med. 2009 Dec 31;361(27):2609-18. Epub 2009 Dec 16. Abstract
- Zhang XJ, Huang W, Yang S, Sun LD, Zhang FY, Zhu QX, Zhang FR, Zhang C, Du WH, Pu XM, Li H, Xiao FL, Wang ZX, Cui Y, Hao F, Zheng J, Yang XQ, Cheng H, He CD, Liu XM, Xu LM, Zheng HF, Zhang SM, Zhang JZ, Wang HY, Cheng YL, Ji BH, Fang QY, Li YZ, Zhou FS, Han JW, Quan C, Chen B, Liu JL, Lin D, Fan L, Zhang AP, Liu SX, Yang CJ, Wang PG, Zhou WM, Lin GS, Wu WD, Fan X, Gao M, Yang BQ, Lu WS, Zhang Z, Zhu KJ, Shen SK, Li M, Zhang XY, Cao TT, Ren W, Zhang X, He J, Tang XF, Lu S, Yang JQ, Zhang L, Wang DN, Yuan F, Yin XY, Huang HJ, Wang HF, Lin XY, Liu JJ. "Psoriasis genome-wide association study identifies susceptibility variants within LCE gene cluster at 1q21." Nat. Genet. 2009 Feb;41(2):205-10. Abstract