Associate Professor Tao Liu

Qualifications: BMed, MMed, PhD

Research Interests:

1. Transcriptional modulation of oncogene and tumour suppressor gene expression by histone deacetylases, histone demethylases, histone methyltransferases, BET bromodomain proteins and super-enhancers.
2. The roles of histone deacetylases, histone demethylases, histone methyltransferases, long noncoding RNAs, BET bromodomain proteins, CDK7, RNA methyltransferases and demethylases in the initiation and progression of cancer.
3. The anticancer efficacy of histone deacetylase inhibitors, histone methyltransferase inhibitors, bromodomain inhibitors, CDK7 inhibitors and methylation inhibitors in cancer cell lines and animal models.
4. Identification of the mechanisms important for the stability and/or degradation of Myc oncoproteins, the most commonly de-regulated oncoprotein in human cancers.
5. Long noncoding RNAs as critical modulators of chromatin function and gene expression.
6. Discovery of novel long noncoding RNA inhibitors for the therapy of cancer.

 Broad Research Areas:

1. Molecular and cellular biology
2. Chromatin modification
3. Gene transcription & Genomics
4. Long noncoding RNA
5. RNA methylation
6. Genomics and epigenetics
7. Drug discovery
8. Experimental cancer therapy

Society Memberships & Professional Activities:

1. Advisory Board member, international Advances in Neruoblastoma Research Association
2. Member,  American Association for Cancer Research
3. Associate Editor, Frontiers in Oncology
4. Associate Editor, Frontiers in Genetics
5. Editor, International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine
6. Editor, World Journal of Biological Chemistry
7. Editor, Epigenetics & Genomics

Weblink: http://www.ccia.org.au/index.cfm?pageCall=staffMember&staffID=87866