Liming Yu, PhD
Assistant Professor/Research
Personal Statement:
My current research is focused on the following areas:
One ongoing project investigates the mechanistic and functional connections between oxidized phospholipids (OxPLs), hepatic scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) deficiency—a coronary artery disease risk gene identified through GWAS—and cardiac fibrosis. I aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms driving cross-organ communication between hepatic lipotoxicity and cardiac fibrosis. Understanding these mechanisms could provide critical insights for developing therapeutic interventions to prevent or treat dyslipidemia-associated cardiac dysfunction.
Research in humans and mice shows that most plaque smooth muscle cell (SMC)-derived cells are monoclonal, with only a few medial SMCs undergoing clonal expansion. However, the mechanisms regulating SMC clonal selection remain unclear. To investigate this, I use advanced SMC lineage-tracing mouse models combined with single-cell sequencing to identify the molecular drivers of SMC clonal expansion.
Education
B.S. - Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
PhD - Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Postdoctoral Fellow (Research Associate)- University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Postdoctoral Fellow - University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
Research
| atherosclerosis | cardiac fibrosis |
| cellular plasticity | lipid metabolism |
| lineage tracing | |
Awards & Accomplishments
2024 American Heart Association Career Development Award (24CDA1264573)
2019 American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship (19POST34410101)
Publications
Liming Yu, Lin Xu, Haiyan Chu, Jun Peng, Anastasia Sacharidou, His-hsien Hsieh, Ada Weinstock, Sohaib Khan, Liquan Ma, José Gabriel Barcia Durán, Jeffrey McDonald, Erik R. Nelson, Sunghee Park, Donald P. McDonnell, P. McDonnell, Kathryn J. Moore, Lily Jun-shen Huang, Edward A. Fisher, Chieko Mineo, Linzhang Huang, and Philip W. Shaul, Macrophage-to-endothelial Cell Crosstalk by the cholesterol metabolite 27HC Promotes Atherosclerosis in Male Mice. Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 25;14(1):4101.
Liming Yu, Guang Yang, Xinjian Zhang, Peng Wang, Xinyu Weng, Yuyu Yang, Zilong Li, Mingming Fang, Yong Xu, Aijun Sun, Junbo Ge. Megakaryocytic Leukemia 1 (MKL1) Bridges Epigenetic Activation of NADPH Oxidase in Macrophages to Cardiac Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury. Circulation. 2018 Dec 11;138(24):2820-2836.
Liming Yu, Guang Yang, Xinyu Weng, Peng Liang, Luyang Li, Jianfei Li, Zhiwen Fan, Wenfang Tian, Xiaoyan Wu, Huihui Xu, Minming Fang, Yong Ji, Yuehua Li, Qi Chen, Yong Xu. Histone Methyltransferase SET1 Mediates Angiotensin II-Induced Endothelin-1 Transcription and Cardiac Hypertrophy in Mice. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2015 May;35(5):1207-17.
Liming Yu, Xinyu Weng, Peng Liang, Xin Dai, Xiaoyan Wu, Huihui Xu, Mingming Fang, Fei Fang, Yong Xu. MRTF-A mediates LPS-induced pro-inflammatory transcription by interacting with the COMPASS complex. J Cell Sci. 2014 Nov 1;127(21):4645-57