About
Professor Guei-Sheung (Rick) Liu
Principal Investigator, Head of Genetic Engineering Research
Professor Guei-Sheung (Rick) Liu leads CERA’s genetic engineering research, focusing on using advanced gene technology to improve treatments for eye diseases.
Professor Guei-Sheung (Rick) Liu
Principal Investigator, Head of Genetic Engineering Research
BMedSci, PhD
Professor Guei-Sheung (Rick) Liu is a Principal Investigator and leads the Genetic Engineering Research Unit at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA).
He received his PhD in biochemistry from Kaohsiung Medical University and was a postdoc at the O’Brien Institute, CERA and the University of Melbourne.
Professor Liu has significant expertise in gene technologies with over 100 publications and continuous funding from the NHMRC and other agencies since 2012.
Over the last five years, his research has specifically delved into the fields of gene editing and tunable gene delivery, with a focus to refine these applications to clear the current hurdles impeding clinical translation for ocular gene therapy.
Professor Liu serves on the editorial board of PLoS One, Journal of Gene Medicine, Annals of Eye Science and Frontiers in Biotechnology and Bioengineering. He also holds the appointment as an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania and Principal Research Fellow (Ophthalmology) at the University of Melbourne.
Key research questions
- Can we use emerging gene technology, such as gene editing, to treat eye diseases?
- Can we customise gene therapy to achieve safe and effective treatments to prevent vision loss?
- Can nanocarriers be used to improve drug and gene delivery in the eye?
Current projects
Selected publications
My team
Key collaborators
Funding and support
Current projects
Tunable gene therapy to halt neovascular eye disease
This project aims to develop a tunable gene therapy for long-term and tailored managing neovascular eye diseases.
Harnessing gene editing technology to treat eye diseases
This project aims to use the latest gene editing technologies to develop novel gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases.
Engineered nanocarrier: A novel platform for ocular drug and gene delivery
The collaborative project aims to utilise nanoparticle/extracellular vesicle technology to improve the effectiveness and specificity of drug and gene delivery in the treatment of eye diseases.
Selected publications
Kumar S, Hsiao YW, Wong VHY, Aubin D, Wang JH, Lisowski L, Rakoczy EP, Li F, Alarcon-Martinez L, Gonzalez-Cordero A, Bui BV, Liu GS. Characterization of RNA editing and gene therapy with a compact CRISPR-Cas13 in the retina. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024;121(45):e2408345121.
Wang JH, Lin FL, Chen J, Zhu L, Chuang YF, Tu L, Ma C, Ling D, Hewitt AW, Tseng CL, Shah MH, Bui BV, van Wijngaarden P, Dusting GJ, Wang PY, Liu GS. TAK1 blockade as a therapy for retinal neovascularization. Pharmacol Res. 2023;187:106617.
DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2022.106617
Chen J, Lin FL, Leung JYK, Tu L, Wang JH, Chuang YF, Li F, Shen HH, Dusting GJ, Wong VHY, Lisowski L, Hewitt AW, Bui BV, Zhong J, Liu GS. A drug-tunable Flt23k gene therapy for controlled intervention in retinal neovascularization. Angiogenesis. 2021;24(1):97-110.
DOI: 10.1007/s10456-020-09745-7
Kumar S, Fry LE, Wang JH, Martin KR, Hewitt AW, Chen FK, Liu GS. RNA-targeting strategies as a platform for ocular gene therapy. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2023;92:101110.
DOI: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2022.101110
Lee JH, Wang JH, Chen J, Li F, Edwards TL, Hewitt AW, Liu GS. Gene therapy for visual loss: Opportunities and concerns. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2019;68:31-53.
DOI: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2018.08.003
My team
- Associate Professor Chi Luu, Principal Investigator
- Dr Manisha Shah, Research Fellow
- Dr Heng-Ai (Grace) Chang, Postdoc Fellow
- Dr Fan Li, Postdoc Fellow
- Dr Lewis Fry, Research Fellow
- Esther Eso, Research Assistant
- Layal El Wazan, PhD Student (University of Melbourne)
- LiuHui (Kathrina) Huang, PhD Student (University of Melbourne)
- Yu-Yi (Teresa) Wu, Visiting PhD student (Taipei Medical University)
Key collaborators
Australia
- Professor Alex Hewitt, CERA
- Professor Robyn Guymer AM, CERA
- Professor Lauren Ayton AM, CERA
- Professor Pete Williams, CERA
- Professor Raymond Wong, CERA
- Professor Mark Daniell, CERA
- Dr Luis Alarcon-Martinez, CERA
- Dr Jiang-Hui (Sloan) Wang, CERA
- Dr Jennifer Fan Gaskin, CERA
Funding and support
Thank you to the following organisations for their support:
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