Welcome

Our laboratory aims to decode the epigenome to understand how genetic information is read in physiology and diseases. We combine molecular tool development with genetic and genomic approaches to explore epigenetic mechanisms underlying normal physiological functions, and to uncover the epigenetic basis of diseases to accelerate the development of therapeutics. We mainly use human ESC- or iPSC-based system and genetically engineered mouse models to tackle these questions.

News

Research

Members

Publications

Publications since independent in 2020

  1. Chen X, Peng Y, Liu XS. (2025). DNA Methylation in Long-term Memory.
    Physiology (Bethesda). 2025. Epub 2025/02/05. doi: 10.1152/physiol.00032.2024. PubMed PMID: 39907057.
  2. Devinsky O, Coller J, Ahrens-Nicklas R, Liu XS, Ahituv N, Davidson BL, Bishop KM, Weiss Y, Mingorance A. (2025). Gene therapies for neurogenetic disorders.
    Trends Mol Med. Epub 2025/02/19. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2025.01.015. PubMed PMID: 39966070. PDF

  3. Pedro J. del Rivero Morfin, Diego Scala Chavez, Srinidhi Jayaraman, Lin Yang, Stefanie M. Geisler, Audrey L. Kochiss, Petronel Tuluc, Henry M. Colecraft, Steven O. Marx, X. Shawn Liu, Anjali M. Rajadhyaksha, Manu Ben-Johny (2024). A Genetically Encoded Actuator Boosts L-type Calcium Channel Function in Diverse Physiological Settings.
    Science Advances, Vol 10, Issue 44, (2024). PDF 

  4. Tomasello, D.L., Barrasa, M.I., Mankus, D., Alarcon, K.I., Lytton-Jean, A.K., Liu, X. Shawn, Jaenisch, R. (2024). Rett Syndrome astrocytes disrupt neuronal activity and cerebral organoid development through transfer of dysfunctional mitochondria.
    Nature | Sci Rep 14, 20565, (2024). PDF
  5. Junming Qian and X. Shawn Liu. (2024). CRISPR/dCas9-Tet1 Mediated DNA Methylation Editing. 
    Bio-Protocol 14(8): e4976, (2024). PDF
  6. Liu, Y., Flamier, A., Bell, G.W., Diao, A.J., Whitfield, T., Wang, H., Wu, Y., Schulte, F., Friesen, M., Guo, R., Mitalipova, M., Liu, X. Shawn, Vos, S.M., Young, R.A., Jaenisch, R. (2024). MECP2 directly interacts with RNA polymerase II to modulate transcription in human neurons. 
    Neuron  112, 1–16, (2024). PDF

  7. Jellinger, A.L., Suthard, R.L., Yuan, B., Surets, M., Ruesch, E.A., Caban, A.J., Liu, X. Shawn, Shpokayte, M., Ramirez, S. (2024). Chronic activation of a negative engram induces behavioral and cellular abnormalities.
    eLife 2024;13:RP96281, (2024). PDF

  8. Minglu Wang and X. Shawn Liu. (2023). The emerging field of epigenetic editing: implication for translational purposes for diseases with developmental origin.
    Perinatal and Developmental Epigenetics Volume 32 , Pages 355-375, (2023). PDF

  9. Qian, J., Guan, X., Xie, B., Xu, C., Niu, J., Tang, X., Li, C.H., Colecraft, H.M., Jaenisch, R. Liu, X. Shawn (2023). Multiplex Epigenome Editing of MECP2 to Rescue Rett Syndrome Neurons.
    Science Translational Medicine  Vol 15, Issue 679, (2023). PDF

  10. Krzisch, M.A., Wu, H., Yuan, B., Whitfield, T.W., Liu, X. Shawn, Fu, D., Garrett-Engele, C.M., Khalil, A.S., Lungjangwa, T., Shih, J., et al. (2022). Fragile X Syndrome Patient-Derived Neurons Developing in the Mouse Brain Show FMR1-Dependent Phenotypes.
    Biol Psychiatry 93, 71-81, (2022). PDF

  11. Shpokayte, M., McKissick, O., Guan, X., Yuan, B., Rahsepar, B., Fernandez, F., Ruesch, E., Grella, S.L., White, J.A., Liu, X. Shawn*, Ramirez, S.* (2022). Hippocampal cells segregate positive and negative engrams.  (*co-corresponding author).
    Nature | Communication Biology. 5, Article number: 1009. (2022). PDFengram paper cover

  12. Li C.H., Coffey E.L., Dall’Agnese A., Hannett N.M., Tang X., Henninger J.E., Platt J.M., Oksuz O., Zamudio A.V., Afeyan L.K., Schuijers J., Liu X. Shawn, Markoulaki S., Lungjangwa T., LeRoy G., Svoboda D.S., Wogram E., Lee T.I., Jaenisch R., Young, R.A.  (2020). MeCP2 links heterochromatin condensates and neurodevelopmental disease.
    Nature 586, 440–444, (2020). PDF

Publications before 2020

  1. Liu, X.S., Jaenisch, R. (2019). Editing the Epigenome to Tackle Brain Disorders. Trends in Neurosciences. (Invited Review) PDF
  2. Tang, X., Drotar, J., Li, K., Brumm, S.A., Wu, H., Liu, X.S., Wang, J., Gray, N., Sur, M., Jaenisch, R. (2019). Identification of KCC2 Expression Enhancer Compounds as a Basis for Treatment of Rett Syndrome. Science Translational Medicine. 11 (503) PDF
  3. Liu, X.S., Wu, H., Krzisch, M., Wu, X., Graef, J., Muffat, J., Hnisz, D., Li, C.H., Yuan, B., Vershkov, D., Cacace. A., Young, R.A., and Jaenisch, R. (2018). Rescue of Fragile X syndrome by DNA methylation editing of the FMR1. Cell. 173, 1-14. (Highlighted by Nature Reviews Neuroscience and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery)  PDF
  4. Liu, X.S., Wu, H., Ji, X., Stelzer, Y., Wu, X., Czauderna, S., Shu, J., Dadon, D., Young, R.A., and Jaenisch, R. (2016). Editing DNA methylation in the mammalian genome. Cell. 167, 233-247. (Highlighted by Nature) PDF
  5. Lee, J.J., Perera, R.M., Wang, H.*, Wu, D.C.*, Liu, X.S.*, Han, S., Fitamant, J., Jones, P.D., Ghanta, K.S., Kawano, S., Nagle, J.M., Deshpande, V., Boucher, Y., Kato, T., Chen, J.K., Willmann, J.K., Bardeesy, N., Beachy, P.A. (2014). Stromal response to Hedgehog signaling restrains pancreatic cancer progression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111, E3091-3100. (*equal contribution) PDF
  6. Song, B., Liu, X.S., Rice, S., Elzey, B.D., Konieczny, S.F., Ratliff, T., Hazbun, T., Chiorean, E.G., Liu, X., (2012). Plk1 phosphorylation of Orc2 and Hbo1 contributes to gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 12, 58-68. PDF
  7. Liu, W., Wen, Y., Bi, P., Lai, X., Liu, X.S., Liu, X., Kuang, S. (2012). Hypoxia promotes satellite cell self-renewal and enhances the efficiency of myoblast transplantation. Development. 139(16), 2857-65. PDF
  8. Iliuk, A., Liu, X.S., Xue, L., Liu, X., Tao, W.A. (2012). Chemical Visualization of Phosphoproteomes on Membrane. Mol. Cell Proteomics. 11(9), 629-39. PDF
  9. Liu, X.S., Song, B., Tang, J., Liu, X. (2012). Plk1 phosphorylates Sgt1 at the kinetochores to promote the timely kinetochore-microtubule attachment. Mol. Cell Biol. 32(19), 4053-67. PDF
  10. Song B., Liu, X.S., Liu, X. (2012). Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1): an Unexpected Player in DNA Replication. Cell Division, 7, 3. (invited review) PDF
  11. Song, B., Liu, X.S., Davis, K., Liu, X. (2011). Plk1 phosphorylation of Orc2 promotes DNA replication under conditions of stress. Mol. Cell Biol., 31(23), 4844-56. PDF
  12. Song, B., Davis, K., Liu, X.S., Lee, H.G., Smith, M., Liu, X. (2011). Inhibition of Polo-like kinase 1 reduces beta-amyloid-induced neuronal cell death in Alzheimer’s disease. Aging, 9, 846-851. PDF
  13. Liu, X.S., Song, B., Elzey, B.D., Ratliff, T.L., Konieczny, S.F., Cheng, L., Ahmad, N., Liu, X. (2011). Polo-like Kinase 1 Facilitates Loss of Pten Tumor Suppressor-induced Prostate Cancer Formation. J Biol. Chem., 286, 35795-35800. PDF
  14. Liu, X.S., Liu, X. (2011). Targeting Plk1 in cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs). Cell Cycle. 10(10), 1523. (invited commentary) PDF
  15. Liu, X.S., Song, B., Liu, X. (2011). The substrates of Plk1, beyond the functions in mitosis. Protein & Cell, 11, 999-1010. (invited review) PDF
  16. Li, H., Liu, X.S. Yang, X., Song, B., Wang, Y., Liu, X. (2010). Polo-like kinase 1 phosphorylation of p150Glued facilitates nuclear envelope breakdown during prophase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 107, 14633-14638. PDF
  17. Li, H., Liu, X.S. Yang, X., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Turner, J.R., Liu, X. (2010). Phosphorylation of CLIP-170 by Plk1 and CK2 promotes timely formation of kinetochore-microtubule attachments. EMBO J, 29, 2953-2965. PDF
  18. Liu, X.S., Li, H., Song, B., Liu, X. (2010). Polo-like kinase 1 phosphorylation of G2 and S-phase-expressed 1 protein is essential for p53 inactivation during G2 checkpoint recovery. EMBO Rep, 11, 626-632. PDF
  19. Yang, X., Li, H., Liu, X.S., Deng, A., Liu, X. (2009). Cdc2-mediated phosphorylation of CLIP-170 is essential for its inhibition of centrosome reduplication. J. Biol. Chem., 284, 28775-28782. PDF

Collaborators

Join Us Our laboratory is located in Columbia University Medical Center, a world-renowned research university doing cutting-edge biomedical research. We welcome highly motivated individuals with training in medicine, biology, chemistry, and biophysics. We offer highly competitive salaries and benefits to postdoctoral fellows, students and research associates. For additional information about ongoing research projects and open positions, please send inquiry to Shawn Liu (shawnxiaoliu@gmail.com) along with your CV and names of references.

Contact

Liu Lab
Dept of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics
Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion
Room 403A (Office), Room 403 (Lab)
1150 St. Nicholas Ave, New York, NY 10032
Lab Google Map