Yinglin Liu, Ph.D.
Yinglin Liu, Ph.D., of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, Mass., is the recipient of the 2007 PHA Research Fellowship award for her research study entitled “Smooth Muscle Cell Signaling by Serotonin in Pulmonary Hypertension.”
The objective of the PHA Research Fellowship Award is to help a trainee embark upon a career dedicated to the study of pulmonary hypertension through basic or clinical research. This represents a training award, which supports an individual before he/she is ready for some stage of independent research, while working under the guidance of an experienced researcher.
Dr. Yinglin Liu entered into her Ph.D. program in her native Beijing, China. After completing her Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology at the Peking Union Medical College and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 2002, Dr. Liu began her post-doctoral fellowship in Tufts-New England Medical Center of Pulmonary Critical Care research laboratory.
Dr. Liu is primarily focused on the relationship of serotonin (5-HT)-induced cell signaling pathways of pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to their proliferation and migration, hallmarks of pulmonary hypertension. Through this research, she hopes to define the basic mechanism by which serotonin causes pulmonary hypertension and also provide the therapeutic options for treatment of this disease in patients. This study will be useful for dissecting signaling pathways of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells in pulmonary hypertension and should provide approaches to the treatment of the disease.
The career goal of Dr. Liu is to become an academic researcher. She hopes the PHA Research Fellowship Award will allow her to further develop her qualifications in research and obtain a publication record to place her in a competitive position for her own future funding.
