Research Interests

Dr. Liu is keen to develop new radiometric and ultrasonic theranostic methods for investigating tumor and neurodegenerative diseases, using molecular imaging, lab on a chip, and neuromodulation techniques.

Through the Ph.D. and postdoc training, he has contributed to developing two imaging systems, a continuously infused microfluidic radioassay (CIMR) system for cellular pharmacokinetics and a multimodal intravital molecular imaging (MIMI) system for tumor transpathology (EJNMMI, 2021). Two generations of the CIMR system have been developed hitherto, the positron detector-based CIMR system (JNM, 2016) and a mini panel-PET-based CIMR system (Lab Chip, 2020). He contributed to a historical and comprehensive review of microfluidic radiobioassays from its onset, including basics, techniques, applications, and prospects (Lab Chip, 2019). He is granted a Youth Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and a project from the Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging. He also has several granted and in-application patents.

His four representative publications are “A continuously infused microfluidic radioassay system for the characterization of cellular pharmacokinetics” (Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2016. DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.115.169151;Microfluidic radiobioassays: a radiometric detection tool for understanding cellular physiology and pharmacokinetics; (Lab on a Chip, 2019. DOI: 10.1039/C9LC00159J), "A mini-panel PET scanner-based microfluidic radiobioassay system allowing high-throughput imaging of real-time cellular pharmacokinetics" (Lab on a Chip 2020, DOI: 10.1039/C9LC01066A), and "Proof of concept of a multimodal intravital molecular imaging system for tumor transpathology investigation" (EJNMMI 2021, DOI: 10.1007/s00259-021-05574-y).

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5978-3412

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhen-Liu-12

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=IPAuq5oAAAAJ&hl=en

Education & Experience

10.2021 - Present, Associate Investigator, Co-PI of Prof. Tengfei Guo, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory.

03.2021 - 07.2021, Lecturer, Qingdao University

08.2017 - 02.2021, Postdoctoral Fellow, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, advised by Prof. Xiaoli Lan

10.2010 - 09.2016, Ph.D. Technical University of Munich, Germany, advised by Prof. Sibylle Ziegler and Prof. Kuangyu Shi

09.2007 - 06.2010, M.Sc. in Biology, Chongqing University, advised by Prof. Danqun Huo and Prof. Changjun Hou

09.2003 - 06.2007, B.Sc. in Bioscience, Inner Mongolia Normal University

Awards

2017 Alavi-Mandell Publication Award, Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)