Jing Liu receives NSF CAREER Award for research on chromatin biophysics
2025-04-01
Jing Liu (Photo provided by Jing Liu)
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Dr. Jing Liu, associate professor of physics and astronomy, the CAREER Award to investigate how chromatin motion in human cells responds to mechanical stimuli. This research could lead to groundbreaking insights into the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases, including cancer. The CAREER Award is the foundation’s most prestigious award for junior faculty.
Liu’s work focuses on chromatin, the mixture of DNA and proteins that forms the chromosomes in humans and other organisms’ cells. The movement of chromatin at the nanoscale level influences fundamental cell functions, such as DNA replication, repair, transcription, and gene expression. This NSF Grant will explore whether cells can directly sense force and transmit it to their DNA, shedding light on a long-standing question in nuclear mechanotransduction. Does chromatin motion change due to direct pico-Newton force transmission, or is it influenced indirectly by cytoplasmic diffusion?
To address this, Liu will combine his existing research strengths in chromatin imaging and intracellular tension sensing. His recent work reports a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)- based molecular tension sensor, Myosin IIB. This is a critical motor protein that cross-links actin and transduces forces along the skeleton. The research explores the mechanosensitivity of intracellular tension and chromatin dynamics. His team will develop an advanced imaging platform to analyze chromatin motion under mechanical stimuli and investigate whether nuclear mechanotransduction is driven by direct force transmission or diffusion. Using magnetic and optical tweezers, they aim to manipulate live cells with precision.
Liu is eager about this award because the “NSF was able to support us on these transformative physical/optical approaches on the interesting biological questions,” says Liu. “The utilization of the optical/magnetic tweezer was highly rated by the reviewer panel.”
Jing Liu (Purdue University/David Siple)
His group studies how chromatin structure and dynamics adapt to external environments to regulate gene expression. Using advanced bioimaging, molecular biology, sequencing, and physical modeling, they investigate how cells sense stimuli, how chromatin structure and dynamics respond to the stimuli, and how cells exhibit phenotypic gene expression. Their findings could aid in diagnosing and treating cancers, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. His laboratory also integrates quantum optics techniques to further advance the detection resolution, sensitivity, and specificity in these fields.
Liu will receive funding over a five-year period for his project, “Mechanical Regulation of Chromatin Motion." As part of this grant, Liu will recruit one physics PhD student and one biology graduate student, pathing the way for interdisciplinary collaboration between physics and life sciences. Liu is a member of the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research and the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, leveraging quantum optics and bioimaging techniques to enhance detection precision in biomedical research.
Contact and contributor: Dr. Jing Liu, associate professor, Purdue University Department of Physics and Astronomy
Written by: David Siple, Communications Specialist, Purdue University Department of Physics and Astronomy