Laboratory of Regulatory Genomics
Our research aims to decode the regulatory genome in aging and age-related diseases, driven by the principle that a comprehensive, system-level understanding of genome regulatory circuits is essential for uncovering the causal genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying human diseases.
In our research, we leverage cutting-edge sequencing technologies and advanced machine-learning/AI models to unravel genetic and epigenetic regulatory networks. By integrating data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), functional genomics, single-cell epigenomics, and molecular experiments, we focus on four key research areas:
>> Dissecting regulatory non-coding variants in human disease
>> Epigenetic regulation in aging and age-related disease
>> Identifying cellular origins of complex human disease
>> Mapping epigenetic dynamics in mammalian development
Research for Healthy Aging
Wellness at every age
Department of Biomedical Genetics & University of Rochester Aging Institute
Lab News
| 05/01/2026 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study about genetic regulation of KDM1A published in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. |
| 04/30/2026 | Hongbo presented lab work at the 2026 Nathan Shock Center Annual Meeting. |
| 04/24/2026 | Congratulations to Jessica on winning the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship in Aging Biology, funded by the Nathan Shock Center. |
| 04/15/2026 | Congratulations to Sreejato on passing his defense for the Biology Honors in Research, based on his research on noncoding variants. |
| 04/02/2026 | Welcome Adrienne Milhauser and Avani Chitnis, joining us as undergraduate researchers. |
| 02/12/2026 | Congratulations to Yulong, receiving the award of Early Career Scholar’s Program from the American Aging Association (AGE). |
| 11/07/2025 | Hongbo co-moderated an oral abstract session "Genetics of Complex Kidney Traits" at the ASN Kidney Week 2025. |
| 10/29/2025 | Hongbo presented lab work at the UR Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) Seminar. |
| 10/24/2025 | Hongbo presented lab work at the UR 2025 Aging Research Day Conference. |
| 10/22/2025 | Hongbo presented lab work at the IGVF 2025 Annual Meeting. |
| 10/20/2025 | Welcome Dr. Haozhe Zou joining us as a Postdoctoral Associate, under the joint supervision of Hongbo and Prof. Vera Gorbunova. |
| 10/15/2025 | Hongbo gave a platform presentation in the session "Single-Cell Multiomic Dissection of Gene Regulation Across Disease States" at ASHG 2025 Meeting. |
| 09/17/2025 | Hongbo was invited to the University of Georgia, where he presented a seminar in the Department of Genetics. |
| 09/01/2025 | Welcome Dr. Yulong Tang (Postdoctoral Associate), joining us and bringing extensive expertise in single-cell omics and human genetics. |
| 08/12/2025 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study about protein QTL and CKM traits published in Nature Medicine. |
| 06/01/2025 | Welcome Dr. Shuangshuang Feng (Postdoctoral Associate), bringing extensive expertise in epigenetics, single-cell sequencing, and molecular biology. |
| 04/23/2025 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study about genetic regulation of CHAC1 published in Science Translational Medicine. |
| 04/22/2025 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study about genetic regulation of WHAMM published in Cell Report. |
| 03/17/2025 | Welcome Zhicheng Jin, joining us for his PhD research, under the joint supervision of Hongbo and Prof. Vera Gorbunova. |
| 03/17/2025 | Welcome Jacqueline Morin, joining us for her rotation research. |
| 02/07/2025 | Hongbo's study is published in Science. This study proposed several new strategies, including Open4Gene and Genetic Scorecard, to prioritize regulatory variants, and revealed the convergence of coding and regulatory variants in GWAS loci associated with kidney disease. |
| 02/06/2025 | Hongbo was invited to present at ICIBM 2025, where he also organizes two sessions about human genetics as a member of the Organization Committee. |
| 02/03/2025 | Hongbo has joined the Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium as an Affiliate Member. Working with IGVF, we develop computational approaches to explore how regulatory variants affect epigenetic regulatory networks and disrupt gene expression in complex diseases. |
| 01/07/2025 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study about genetic regulation of LCATB in CKM traits published in Cell Metabolism. |
| 01/06/2025 | Welcome Nidhi Shah, joining us for her rotation research. |
| 11/07/2024 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study on TET2 germline variants published in Nature Communications. |
| 10/15/2024 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study on gout GWAS in 2.6 million people published in Nature Genetics. |
| 09/15/2024 | We receive a five-year research award from the National Institute on Aging. As co-leader of Data Integration Core in this program project, we investigate the functional genome and epigenome related to aging and dementia, with collaborative efforts with scientists including Prof. Vera Gorbunova. |
| 08/16/2024 | Welcome Dr. Mengying Zhang (Postdoctoral Associate). Dr. Zhang brings extensive expertise in bioinformatics, epigenetics, and human diseases. |
| 07/24/2024 | Congratulations on Hongbo's collaborative study on kidney spatial omics published in Nature Genetics. |
| 03/01/2024 | Liu lab officially launches, with multiple Positions available. Welcome to join! :) |
| 01/01/2024 | Open postion: Postdoctoral Associate of Computational Biology. Visit Positions page for detail. |
| 01/01/2024 | Open postion: Postdoctoral Associate of Molecular Biology. Visit Positions page for detail. |
| 01/01/2024 | Open postion: Graduate students in PhD program: Biomedical Genetics and Genomics at University of Rochester. Rotation positions are available. |
| 01/01/2024 | The Liu Lab website (https://hbliulab.org) is now live! |