Self-introduction

Dr. Maofu Liao obtained his BSc degree from Tsinghua University (China) in 1999 and Ph.D. degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine (USA) in 2006. He did his postdoctoral work at University of California, San Francisco. In 2014, he joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018. His work focuses on using cryo-EM and biochemistry to understand the structure and mechanism of biological macromolecules. In 2022, he joined Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) as a Chair Professor. 

Research Interests

◆ EM method development driven by biological discovery.

◆ Structure and mechanism of dynamic macromolecular machines.

◆ Novel therapeutic strategies enabled by molecular structure and mechanism. 

Selected Publication

1: Liu D*, Thélot FA*, Piccirilli JA, Liao M#, Yin P#. Sub-3-Å cryo-EM structure of RNA enabled by engineered homomeric self-assembly. Nat Methods. 2022 May;19(5):576-585. doi: 10.1038/s41592-022-01455-w. Epub 2022 May 2. PMID: 35501384.

2: Thélot FA, Zhang W, Song K, Xu C, Huang J, Liao M. Distinct allosteric mechanisms of first-generation MsbA inhibitors. Science. 2021 Oct 29;374(6567):580-585. doi: 10.1126/science.abi9009. Epub 2021 Sep 23. PMID: 34554829; PMCID: PMC9109178.

3: Sharma S*, Zhou R*, Wan L, Feng S, Song K, Xu C, Li Y#, Liao M#. Mechanism of LolCDE as a molecular extruder of bacterial triacylated lipoproteins. Nat Commun. 2021 Aug 3;12(1):4687. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-24965-1. PMID: 34344901; PMCID: PMC8333309.

4: Orlando BJ, Liao M. ABCG2 transports anticancer drugs via a closed-to-open switch. Nat Commun. 2020 May 8;11(1):2264. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16155-2. PMID: 32385283; PMCID: PMC7210939.

5: Sui X, Wang K, Gluchowski NL, Elliott SD, Liao M#, Walther TC#, Farese RV Jr.# Structure and catalytic mechanism of a human triacylglycerol-synthesis enzyme. Nature. 2020 May;581(7808):323-328. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2289-6. Epub 2020 May 13. PMID: 32433611; PMCID: PMC7398557.

6: Li Y*, Orlando BJ*, Liao M. Structural basis of lipopolysaccharide extraction by the LptB2FGC complex. Nature. 2019 Mar;567(7749):486-490. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1025-6. Epub 2019 Mar 20. PMID: 30894744; PMCID: PMC6532066.

7: Srivastava AP*, Luo M*, Zhou W, Symersky J, Bai D, Chambers MG, Faraldo-Gómez JD, Liao M#, Mueller DM#. High-resolution cryo-EM analysis of the yeast ATP synthase in a lipid membrane. Science. 2018 May 11;360(6389):eaas9699. doi: 10.1126/science.aas9699. Epub 2018 Apr 12. PMID: 29650704; PMCID: PMC5948177.

8: Mi W, Li Y, Yoon SH, Ernst RK, Walz T, Liao M. Structural basis of MsbA-mediated lipopolysaccharide transport. Nature. 2017 Sep 14;549(7671):233-237. doi: 10.1038/nature23649. Epub 2017 Sep 6. PMID: 28869968; PMCID: PMC5759761.

9: Schoebel S*, Mi W*, Stein A, Ovchinnikov S, Pavlovicz R, DiMaio F, Baker D, Chambers MG, Su H, Li D, Rapoport TA#, Liao M#. Cryo-EM structure of the protein-conducting ERAD channel Hrd1 in complex with Hrd3. Nature. 2017 Aug 17;548(7667):352-355. doi: 10.1038/nature23314. Epub 2017 Jul 6. PMID: 28682307; PMCID: PMC5736104.

10: Liao M*, Cao E*, Julius D#, Cheng Y#. Structure of the TRPV1 ion channel determined by electron cryo-microscopy. Nature. 2013 Dec 5;504(7478):107-12. doi: 10.1038/nature12822. PMID: 24305160; PMCID: PMC4078027.

Research Group：https://liao.bio.sustech.edu.cn/