Team
Julia C. Liu | Principal Investigator
Julia is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology. She earned her AB in Physics at Princeton University, and a PhD in Biophysics at Harvard University. Julia recently completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, during which she was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Associate Training fellowship (Fi2), as well as a NHLBI Career Transition Award (K22). She is broadly interested in the role of mitochondria in generating, signaling, and responding to cellular stress, and how mitochondrial calcium handling affects physiology. When not in the lab, Julia enjoys relaxing with her family, traveling, and playing cello.
Hector Chapoy Villanueva | Postdoctoral Fellow
Hector grew up in Monclova, México and moved to Monterrey to study chemical engineering at Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León. However, his interest in molecular biology and medicine led him to earn his MS and PhD degrees in Engineering and Biomedical Physics at Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV) in México. He then became a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Cardiology and Metabolomics of Tecnologico de Monterrey. This was where he met and fell in love with the importance of mitochondria in heart disease. He recently came to the University of Minnesota to join in a new adventure studying the role of mitochondrial calcium uniporter proteins in the development of cardiovascular diseases.
Jae Hwi Sung | Graduate Student
Jae is a third-year graduate student in the department of Integrative Biology and Physiology. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Science from Korea University. When he was in Korea, he experienced the field of molecular diagnostics, cardiac electrophysiology, and clinical chemistry. He is interested in cardiac physiology, and his goal is to find better treatments for cardiac diseases based on basic and clinical cardiac physiology.
Interested in joining?
Postdoctoral candidates should contact me via email (julialiu@umn.edu), describing a line of investigation that most excites or intrigues you relevant to the research goals of the lab, along with a current CV.
Current graduate students who are interested in joining the lab for a rotation can contact me directly (julialiu@umn.edu). Include a current CV and note your research interests relevant to the goals of the lab. I look forward to hearing from you! If you are planning to apply to Minnesota for graduate school, you're welcome to contact me about the lab beforehand. I'm part of the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP) at the University of Minnesota. Minnesota is consistently ranked in the top universities in the U.S., and has excellent resources and funding for graduate students. For more information on the research and mentoring environment of the Liu Lab please see our Join Us page.
Current undergraduate students are also welcome to contact me about research opportunities in the lab. Undergraduate research is a great opportunity to figure out what you enjoy working on, and to explore whether graduate school may be the right path for you. The Liu Lab is always looking for motivated and dependable students that are interested in the science and excited to learn. Interested students should take a look at our research page and send me an email (julialiu@umn.edu) with a current CV and a brief note about what research project interests you the most.
