Zukai Liu 刘族凯

I am currently a PhD candidate at Uconn Health & The Jackson Labotorary co-mentored by Prof. Paul Robson and Dr. Albert Cheng.

I am focusing on developing novel technologies and models to solve the basic biological questions. One of my primary research topics is to model the human embryogenesis at peri-implantation stage by human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). In Robson lab, I generated a hiPSC-based model for extra-embryonic mesenchymal cell (ExMC), a unique cell lineage in primate early embryogenesis. This lineage was orignially defined by morphology about 70 years ago but was poorly characterized at molecular level. Utilizing this model, I uncovered its molecular mechanism, function, evolution and potential origin. Robson lab is also one of five initiative groups for MorPhic consortium, which aims to develop a consistent catalog of molecular and cellular phenotypes for null alleles for every human gene by using in-vitro multicellular systems. Our hiPSC-based ExMC model is one of the key systems among others. We anticipate to identify more molecules involved in human implantation biology and uncover how and why human embryogenesis differs from other mammals.

I was originally introduced into the RNA world when I was a master student. I was working on the function of miRNA and RNA binding protein in tumorigenesis. In Cheng lab, I continued my adventure in the RNA field and created a novel platform known as CREST to integrate multiple RNA engineering functions (splicing and base editings) into one. On top of that, our CREST system was proved to reduce about 98% off-targeting events.

Research Interests

Stem cell, Developmental biology, RNA biology, Synthetic biology, CRISPR & Single cell