Jen Liou, Ph.D.

Download Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Jen Liou received her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), under the mentorship of Dr. Arthur Weiss, for her work on dissecting signaling transduction events in lymphocyte activation using biochemical and genetic approaches. During her postdoctoral training under Dr. Tobias Meyer at Stanford University, Dr. Liou studied cellular signaling using systems biology and quantitative live-cell imaging approaches.

She collaborated with four colleagues and generated an siRNA library targeting 2,304 human signaling proteins. She used this library to address a long-standing question in lymphocyte activation and calcium signaling: the molecular mechanism underlying store-operated calcium (SOC) signaling.

Dr. Liou identified STIM1/2 as the calcium sensors in the endoplasmic reticulum for SOC signaling and characterized the activation mechanisms of STIM1/2. Her work represented a major breakthrough that set the direction of many laboratories in the field.

An article in the Summer 2009 edition of Stanford Medicine, "Anatomy of an Experiment: Chasing Down the Cell’s Gatekeepers" describes Dr. Liou’s research.

Undergraduate

National Taiwan University (1992), Zoology

Graduate School

National Taiwan University (1994), Zoology

Graduate School

University of California-San F (2001), Biology

• Calcium Signaling
• High-Resolution Imaging in Live Cells
• Inter-Organelle Communication
• Membrane Contact Sites
• Phosphoinositide Metabolism

Featured Publications

Recent insights into mammalian ER-PM junctions.

Chen YJ, Quintanilla CG, Liou J Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 2019 Feb 57 99-105

EB1 binding restricts STIM1 translocation to ER-PM junctions and regulates store-operated Ca2+ entry.

Chang CL, Chen YJ, Quintanilla CG, Hsieh TS, Liou J. J Cell Biol. 2018 Mar 217

Cortical actin contributes to spatial organization of ER-PM junctions.

Hsieh TS, Chen YJ, Chang CL, Lee WR, Liou J Mol. Biol. Cell 2017 Sep

RASSF4 controls SOCE and ER-PM junctions through regulation of PI(4,5)P2.

Chen YJ, Chang CL, Lee WR, Liou J J. Cell Biol. 2017 Jun

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate Homeostasis Regulated by Nir2 and Nir3 at Endoplasmic Reticulum-Plasma Membrane Junctions.

Chang CL, Liou J J. Biol. Chem. 2015 Apr

Feedback regulation of receptor-induced Ca2+ signaling mediated by E-Syt1 and Nir2 at endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane junctions.

Chang CL, Hsieh TS, Yang TT, Rothberg KG, Azizoglu DB, Volk E, Liao JC, Liou J Cell Rep 2013 Nov 5 3 813-25

Live-cell imaging reveals sequential oligomerization and local plasma membrane targeting of STIM1 following Ca2+ store depletion

Liou J*, Fivaz M, Inoue T, Meyer T* [*: Co-corresponding authors] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA May 2007 104 9301-06

STIM Is a Ca2+ Sensor Essential for Ca2+-Store-Depletion-Triggered Ca2+ Influx

Liou J, Kim ML, Heo WD, Jones JT, Myers JW, Ferrell JE Jr, Meyer T Current Biology July 2005 15 1235-41

Myristoylation-Dependent Palmitoylation of the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Adaptor FRS2a.

Barylko B, Chen YJ, Hennen J, Angert I, Chen Y, Mueller JD, Sun HQ, Taylor CA, Liou J, Yin H, Albanesi JP, Biochemistry 2019 Jun 58 25 2809-2813

STING-mediated disruption of calcium homeostasis chronically activates ER stress and primes T cell death.

Wu J, Chen YJ, Dobbs N, Sakai T, Liou J, Miner JJ, Yan N, J. Exp. Med. 2019 Apr 216 4 867-883

• Endowed Scholar in Biomedical Research
  UT Southwestern Medical Center (2009)

• American Society for Cell Biology