Clifford Z Liu

Clifford Liu, PhD is an eighth-year MD/PhD Candidate at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, receiving his PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2024, with a focus in Development, Regeneration, and Stem Cells. He conducted his doctoral studies under the mentorship of Dr. Bruce Gelb, where he developed methods to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into the cell populations that reside within heart valves. Using this model, he investigated the molecular mechanisms that underlie cardiac valve disease in Noonan syndrome, a genetic disorder often associated with congenital heart defects like pulmonary valve stenosis. His work is helping advance our mechanistic understanding of heart valve disease in Noonan syndrome and may help identify new therapeutic targets for affected patients.

Clifford was supported during his doctoral studies by a Predoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association and an NIH T32 Traineeship in Systems and Developmental Biology and Birth Defects. He was also recognized with an Early Stage Investigator Award by the RASopathies Network’s International RASopathies Symposium and won the Young Investigator Competition through the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute. He has presented his work at multiple national and international conferences.

Prior to joining Sinai, Clifford graduated cum laude from UC San Diego, where he earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and a B.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology, both with distinction. He then earned his M.S. in Biology at UC San Diego, where he studied the structure-function of various Ly6 proteins and their regulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor function under the mentorship of Dr. William Joiner. His research contributed to a deeper understanding of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor function in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Outside of the hospital and lab, Clifford enjoys exercising, trying new restaurants, traveling, and reading nonfiction.