معرفی
Sha Liu is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven, and heads the Laboratory for Sleep and Synaptic Plasticity (VIB-KU Leuven). They serve as promoter for multiple active research projects and are affiliated with the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain Research and the KU Leuven Brain Institute.
Sha Liu's research focuses on:
- Glial regulation of sleep homeostasis and circadian rhythms
- Synaptic plasticity mechanisms during sleep
- Neurogenetic analysis of Drosophila sleep circuits
- Development of single-cell transcriptomic tools
- Neural encoding of sleep need
- Age-dependent spinal cord plasticity
Their recent publications (2018–2025) demonstrate expertise in combining single-cell transcriptomics with Drosophila neurogenetics to investigate sleep regulation. Key findings include:
- Glia-integrated homeostatic/circadian signaling in sleep-wake cycles
- Astrocytic calcium dynamics as sleep need indicators
- 3D neuronal wiring patterns in proprioceptive processing
- Genetic tools for cell death mapping in Drosophila
Research projects (2018–2029) emphasize sleep-dependent memory consolidation, glial contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders, and injury-induced plasticity.
Advising: Supervised students include Jeroen Dopp, Hanne Bertels, and Alisson Ortega. Promoted projects like "Genetic targeting of astrocytes" (2025) and "Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation" (2024) show collaborative mentorship approach.
Labs: Leads the Laboratory for Sleep and Synaptic Plasticity, developing Drosophila models for sleep research and producing high-impact publications in journals like Nature Neuroscience and Current Biology.
