Fang Liu
Pennsauken,NJ
Summary
Cell and gene therapy scientist with 15+ years of experience in immunology, molecular biology, viral vector engineering, and translational biomedical research. Extensive hands-on expertise in lentiviral vector production, CAR-T cell engineering, immune cell culture, flow cytometry, molecular cloning, and functional immunoassays. Demonstrated success in independently designing and executing complex research projects, analyzing and presenting scientific data, and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams. Proven track record of supporting research programs from discovery through preclinical development in academic and translational research environments.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
Work History
Research Specialist D
University of Pennsylvania, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies (CCI), Carl H. June Laboratory
Philadelphia, PA
04.2023 - Current
Led the design and execution of in vitro and in vivo studies to identify metabolic genes that enhance the persistence, function, and anti-tumor activity of mesothelin-targeting CAR-T cells in solid tumor models.
Key Contributions
- Designed and constructed lentiviral vectors encoding CAR constructs and metabolic gene candidates, each tagged with a unique barcode for tracking and quantification.
- Produced and titrated lentiviral vectors for generation of engineered CAR-T cells.
- Isolated, activated, transduced, and expanded primary human T cells from multiple donors.
- Generated and characterized dozens of engineered CAR-T cell products expressing metabolic gene candidates.
- Performed multicolor flow cytometry for CAR expression, immune phenotyping, and functional characterization.
- Conducted in vitro cytotoxicity assays to evaluate CAR-T cell anti-tumor activity against multiple tumor cell lines.
- Designed and validated dozens of PCR primers for metabolic gene profiling and conducted quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses to assess endogenous and transgene expression in engineered cells.
- Designed and optimized screening strategies to identify metabolic genes that improve CAR-T cell persistence and anti-tumor efficacy. Extracted genomic DNA and prepared NGS libraries for barcode tracking studies.
- Analyzed complex datasets and presented findings to research teams and laboratory leadership.
Senior Research Analyst
Duke University
Durham, NC
08.2012 - 03.2023
Conducted three independent research projects:
- Investigated the regulation of chromatin accessibility and Zic binding at enhancers during cerebellar development.
- Studied the role of the histone demethylase KDM6B in regulating gene expression programs during cerebellar granule neuron differentiation.
- Elucidated how KDM6B-mediated H3K27me3 dynamics orchestrate postnatal cerebellar development.
Research Fellow
NCI
Bethesda, MD
10.2006 - 07.2012
Conducted two major research projects:
- Investigated epigenetic alterations and gene expression changes in lung epithelial cells exposed to cigarette smoke condensate.
- Evaluated the Polycomb group protein EZH2 as a potential therapeutic target for cancer treatment.
Education
Master of Science - Medical Microbiology And Immunology
Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences
Guangzhou, P.R.ChinaM.D. - Internal Medicine
Xiangya Medical College of Central South University
Changsha, P.R.ChinaSkills
- Lentiviral vector production, concentration, titration, T-cell activation, transduction and expansion
- CAR-T cell engineering and characterization; multicolor flow cytometry, FACS sorting, and FlowJo-based immunophenotyping
- Immune cell functional assays, cytotoxicity assays (IncuCyte) and cytokine analysis (ELISA)
- Designed and constructed complex lentiviral vectors, including mesothelin-targeting CAR-P2A-Gene1-T2A-Gene2 tricistronic constructs for co-expression of CARs and metabolic genes
- Designed and validated PCR primers for quantitative gene expression analysis and amplification of unique barcode sequences from engineered CAR-T cells
- Q-PCR, RT-qPCR, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing, and CRISPR/dCas9-based transcriptional activation
- Developed Python-based data analysis pipelines to identify and quantify barcode sequences from amplicon next-generation sequencing (NGS) datasets
- Experimental design and optimization, technical troubleshooting, scientific data presentation, and cross-functional collaboration
Timeline
Research Specialist D
University of Pennsylvania, Center for Cellular Immunotherapies (CCI), Carl H. June Laboratory
04.2023 - Current
Senior Research Analyst
Duke University
08.2012 - 03.2023
Research Fellow
NCI
10.2006 - 07.2012
Master of Science - Medical Microbiology And Immunology
Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences
M.D. - Internal Medicine
Xiangya Medical College of Central South University
SELECTED ACHIEVEMENTS
- Designed and implemented barcode-based screening strategies to identify metabolic genes that enhance the persistence, functionality, and anti-tumor activity of CAR-T cells.
- Published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Nature Neuroscience, Nature Methods, Science, Blood, and Nature Communications, with research spanning immunology, cancer biology, epigenetics and neurobiology.
- First author of an Oncogene publication cited more than 344 times. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20440268/)
Relevant Experience
- Led independent research projects from study conception and experimental design through data analysis, publication, and scientific presentation.
- Applied advanced molecular biology and genomics techniques, including ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, and RNA-seq, to investigate gene regulation, chromatin dynamics, and epigenetic mechanisms.
- Expertise in MTT, soft agar, and dual-luciferase assays; generation of stable cell lines; recombinant protein expression in mammalian cells; pyrosequencing; site-directed mutagenesis; and immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) staining.
- Performed a wide range of mouse procedures, including oral gavage, intracardiac, intraperitoneal (IP), subcutaneous (SC), and intravenous (IV) injections for preclinical studies.