Minghsun Liu, MD, PhD
 Staff Physician (WOC), Div. of Infectious Diseases, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare
Visiting Research Associate, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics

Division of Infectious Diseases, 111F
11301 Wilshire Blvd., VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
Los Angeles, CA 90073
Tel: (310) 268-3015
Fax: (310) 268-4928
lmh@ucla.edu

Research Summary:
My research is focused on understanding host-pathogen interactions in various types of infections including melioidosis, dengue fever, coccidioidomycosis, and diabetic foot infections. In these four types of infections, as in many other infectious diseases, the progression and ultimate outcome of an infection is determined by the intricate interations between hosts, pathogens, and environment. To get a truly global, or systems level, understanding of these diseases, I use a wide range of tools, including high throughput methods such as global transcriptome analyis.

Selected Publications:

Book/Book Chapters

  1. Crick, Francis. (1997). Translator. Minghsun Liu. The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul - Chinese Edition. Taipei, Taiwan, Commonwealth Publishing Co. Ltd.
  2. Liu, M. (2003). Plasmid-based reporter gene vectors: colorimetric assays for b-galactosidase and alkaline phosphatase activities. In E. coli Plasmid Vectors: Methods and Applications. Preston, A. and Casali, N. (eds). Totowa, N.J., Humana Press.
  3. Liu, M. (2008). "Perioperative Antibiotics". In Practical guide to the care of surgical patients. Nguyen, T.C. and Abilez O.J. (eds). Mosby Inc/Elsevier Press. (In press).

Journal Articles

  1. Liu, M., Gonzalez, J.E., Willis, L.B., and Walker, G.C. (1998). A novel screen for exopolysaccharide deficient mutants. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 64(11):4600-4602.
  2. Liu, M., Deora, R., Doulatov, S.R., Gingery, M., Eiserling, F.A., Preston, A., Maskell, D.J., Simons, R.W., Cotter, P.A., Parkhill, J., Miller, J.F. (2002) Reverse transcriptase-mediated diversity generation in host-parasite interactions: tropism switching by Bordetella bacteriophage. Science. 295(5562):2091-4.
  3. Huang, T. J.*, Liu, M.*, Knight, L.D., Grody, W.W., Miller, J.F., Ho, C.-M. (2002). An electrochemical detection scheme for identifications of single-nucleotide polymorphism using hairpin-forming probes. Nucleic Acid Research. 30(12):e55. *Co-first authors.
  4. Liu, M., Gingery, M., Doulatove, S.R., Liu, Y., Hodes, A., Baker, S., Davis, P., Simmonds, M., Churcher, C., Mungall, K., Quail, M.A., Preston, A., Harvill, E.T., Maskell, D.J., Eiserling, F.A., Parkhill, J., Miller, J.F. (2004). Genomic and genetic analysis of Bordetella bacteriophages encoding reverse transcriptase-mediated tropism-switching cassettes. Journal of Bacteriology. 186(5):1503-1517.
  5. Doulatov, S., Hodes, A., Dai, L., Mandhana, N., Liu, M., Deora, R., Simons, R.W., Zimmerly, S., Miller, J.F. (2004). Tropism switching in Bordetella bacteriophage defines a family of diversity-generating retroelements. Nature. 431(7007):476-481.
  6. Liu, M., Holodniy, M., Zolopa, A.R., Shafer, R.W. (2006). Case files from Stanford University Medical Center: The initial presentation of HIV-1 infection - Where public and personal health meet. Medscape General Medicine. 8(1):24.

Review

  1. Liu, M., Popper, S.J., Rubins, K.H., Relman, D.A. (2006). Early days: genomics and human responses to infection. Current Opinion in Microbiology. 9(3):312-319.

 

2008