Rihe H. Liu

Rihe H. Liu, PhD, is a Professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, focusing on developing novel drug target-binding affinity molecules.

Research Interests:

• Directed molecular selection and evolution (mRNA display, phage display, SELEX)
• Ligand design and engineering for therapeutic applications
• In vitro cellular and signaling characterization
• In vivo therapeutic efficacy studies in tumor mouse models
• Targeted delivery strategies for biologics
• Exploration of CAR-T and ligand-drug conjugates

Publication Trends: Liu's recent work emphasizes immunotherapy (e.g., STING mimics, CAR-T), nanotechnology for drug delivery (e.g., nano-PD-L1 traps, CXCL13 nanotraps), and molecular engineering of biologics. His studies span oncology, molecular biology, and nanomedicine, with applications in hepatocellular carcinoma and ovarian cancer.

Labs and Teams: Liu leads the Liu Laboratory at UNC, which integrates display technologies and translational research to advance biologics for cancer therapy and targeted delivery.