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Home > Prizes > Prize Recipients > Shixin Liu

Shixin Liu

2023 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Portrait of Shixin Liu.

Location

New York, NY

Title

Assistant Professor, The Rockefeller University

Area(s) of Research

Single molecule biophysics

Education

University of Science and Technology of China (BS, Biology);
Harvard University (PhD, Chemistry)

Country of Birth

China

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Links to learn more about Shixin Liu's work
  • Rockefeller University
  • Liu Lab

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bioimaging biology biomedical science biophysics china Harvard University physics single-molecule biology The Rockefeller University
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Portrait of Shixin Liu.

“I have always been fascinated by the dynamic intricacy of life,” says Shixin Liu. A molecular biologist, Liu’s work seeks to distinguish order from chaos, by parsing how the physical and biochemical behaviors of individual molecules harness cellular energy to conduct complex biological processes like DNA replication and transcription.

Liu directs the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biophysics and Biochemistry at The Rockefeller University. His research studies the dynamic behaviors and interactions of biomolecules using single-molecule visualization and manipulation techniques. In doing so, Liu seeks to explore the ways that the physical properties of molecular machines—specialized protein complexes that convert chemical energy into mechanical work—can influence biological outcomes like gene expression.

Shixin Liu seated in his office, hands folded on his leg.

“The greatest advantage of our approach is its unique ability to capture transient, stochastic, and heterogeneous molecular behaviors hidden from bulk experiments,” says Liu. “These behaviors often underlie the physiological functions of macromolecules and their dysregulation in disease.”

Born in Anhui province in China, Liu began undergraduate studies at the University of Science and Technology of China when he was just 14. At the age of 19 he immigrated to the United States to pursue his PhD at Harvard University. At Harvard, Liu studied with Xiaowei Zhuang, using single-molecule fluorescence methods to monitor the catalysis, movement, and conformational changes of RNA and protein enzymes. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, he worked with Carlos Bustamante employing optical tweezers to investigate the operating mechanisms of molecular machines.

Shixin Liu seated around a conference table with graduate students.

“I was extremely lucky to be mentored by two exceptional immigrant scientists and previous Vilcek Prize recipients—Xiaowei Zhuang and Carlos Bustamante,” says Liu. “They taught me how to design conceptually intuitive and technically rigorous experiments, how to provide personalized mentorship to trainees, and how to effectively communicate science to a broad audience.”

Looking ahead, Liu aims to build experiments that expand on the tools he gained from his mentors, and from the research he has led thus far at The Rockefeller University. He hopes to elucidate how DNA replication and transcription machineries orchestrate the ways genetic and epigenetic information is interpreted and inherited.

A group photo of Shixin Liu's lab in front of a wall of windows.

Awards and Accomplishments

  • Distinguished Teaching Award, The Rockefeller University (2021)
  • Pershing Square Sohn Prize (2020)
  • NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (2018)
  • Sinsheimer Scholar (2018)
  • Kimmel Scholar (2017)
  • March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Scholar (2017)
  • Quadrivium Award for Innovative Research in Epigenetics (2017)
  • Irma T. Hirschl Monique Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award (2016)
  • NIH Pathway to Independence Award (2013)
  • Biophysical Society Education Travel Award (2012)
  • Outstanding Overseas Student Award, China Scholarship Council (2008)

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bioimaging biology biomedical science biophysics china Harvard University physics single-molecule biology The Rockefeller University

Jury Members

2023 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Heran Darwin

Professor, Department of Microbiology, New York University

Laurie Dempsey

Senior Editor, Nature Immunology, Nature Publishing Group

Viviana Gradinaru

Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology

Yibin Kang

Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology, Princeton University

Harmit S. Malik

Professor and Associate Director Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Luciano Marraffini

Kayden Family Professor, The Rockefeller University

Jedd Wolchok

Lloyd J. Old/Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair in Clinical Investigation, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
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Related Prize Recipients

Xiaowei Zhuang

Xiaowei Zhuang receives the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science for developing super-resolution microscopy and genome-scale imaging to directly visualize the structures, activities, and expression profiles of life-sustaining molecules in cells.
Portrait of Xiaowei Zhuang

Biyu J. He

Biyu J. He receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for her leadership in the field of cognitive neuroscience, and for her groundbreaking discoveries on the biological bases of perceptual cognition and subjective experience.
Portrait of Biyu J. He.

Harris Wang

Harris Wang receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for the development and application of Mutiplex Automated Genome Engineering (MAGE), a platform to track, program, and engineer entire microbial communities and ecosystems for a range of diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Portrait of Harris Wang

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March 13, 2023

Shixin Liu: “Seeing is believing”

Born in Anhui province, China, molecular biologist Shixin Liu is passionate about understanding and visualizing the molecular interactions that drive functions like gene expression.
Shixin Liu wearing a black sweater framed by the tree trunks behind him.
February 10, 2020

Xiaowei Zhuang: Making the Unseen Seen

Xiaowei Zhuang has pioneered imaging techniques that enable scientists to see the innermost workings of human cells. “The fundamental drive,” she says, “is to figure out how things work.”
Xiaowei Zhuang in a STORM microscopy lab at Harvard University.
October 18, 2022

Vilcek Foundation honors immigrant scientists with $250,000 in prizes

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Edward Chouchani, Biyu J. He, and Shixin Liu receive the 2023 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science.
The 2023 Vilcek Prizewinners in biomedical science from left to right: Edward Chouchani, Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Biyu J. He, & Shixin Liu.

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