Yushan Liu was born in China and earned her B.S. in Biology from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2021. As an undergraduate, she worked in Dr. Tyler Schwend’s lab, using the embryonic chick as a model to study corneal regeneration. She went on to receive her M.S. in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology within the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where she worked in Dr. Sayeepriyadarshini Anakk’s lab investigating the relationship between bile acid synthesis, obesity, and adipogenesis. Yushan is now pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine in UIUC. In the Won lab, her research focuses on elucidating the mechanisms underlying lupus myocarditis, with an emphasis on cardiac myosin–specific autoreactive T cells.
A fun fact: Yushan has a blue-tongued skink as a pet.