Wei Liu

Wei Liu is a Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Sciences at the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH), University of Manchester. Previously, he was awarded a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellowship in 2015 and promoted to Senior Research Fellow/Senior Lecturer in 2020. His academic journey began with a medical degree from Beijing University in 2003, followed by a PhD from the University of Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences in 2007.

Dr. Liu's research primarily focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying metabolic disorders-induced cardiovascular diseases, particularly diabetic cardiomyopathy. His work investigates how abnormal cardiac metabolic substrate usage in diabetes leads to lipotoxicity, insulin resistance, ROS accumulation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. His laboratory employs advanced techniques including gene modification (Flox/Cre, CRISPR/Cas9, AAV delivery) and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for drug screening.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on cardiac lipotoxicity, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and signaling pathways like ERK5 and PAK family kinases in metabolic cardiomyopathy. His work has been published in high-impact journals including Nature Communications, Circulation Research, Circulation, and Diabetes.

• British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellowship (2015)

Dr. Liu actively supervises numerous postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and Master's students, with recent theses focusing on ER regulation, inflammation in diabetic hearts, MKK7, cardiac PAK2, and ERK5 as metabolic regulators. He collaborates extensively with researchers including Elizabeth Cartwright, Ashraf Kitmitto, Tao Wang, and Delvac Oceandy. Additionally, he serves as Programme Deputy Director for the MRes Cardiovascular Health & Disease program.