Research in the Qin Liu laboratory involves the application of biostatistics—the statistical analysis of complex data generated from modern biological laboratories combined with variety of clinical information—to find correlations between genes, disease and individual patient health. Biostatistics allows scientists to put into context the often-overwhelming amount of information collected through experimentation in the laboratory as well as from clinical and population studies.

Liu’s published research demonstrates the power of biostatistics in to breast and ovarian cancer. Among other findings, her work helped identify the effects of pregnancy and the postpartum period on changing a woman’s risk for these cancers. She has been the lead biostatistician and co-investigator for several NIH-funded programs on infectious diseases; clinical trials on breast cancer treatment; behavioral and educational intervention research; and research on health care outcomes.

Liu began her research career with a scholarship to study medicine at Shanxi Medical University in Taiyuan, China, where she would earn both a medical degree and a master’s degree in health statistics. Liu followed her interests in the emerging informative power of medical statistics with a doctorate in biostatistics at Shanghai Medical University in Shanghai, China in 1998. The next year, she traveled to Worcester, Massachusetts to begin a postdoctoral fellowship in biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts. While there, she earned a second master’s degree, this time in public health and epidemiology.

In 2005, Liu was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS). Two years later, she transferred to the Biostatistical Research Group in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine within the Department of Medicine. Liu joined The Wistar Institute in 2011 as an associate professor.

1 - Liu Q, Wuu J, Lambe M, Hsieh S-f, Ekbom A, Hsieh CC. Transient increase in breast cancer risk after giving birth: postpartum period with the highest risk. Cancer Cause and Control. 2002; 13 (4): 299-305. 2012074499

2 - Zhu X, Leav I, Leung Y-K, Wu M., Liu Q, Gao Y, McNeal JE, Ho S-M. Dynamic regulation of estrogen receptor-β expression by DNA methylation during prostate cancer development and metastasis. American Journal of Pathology. 2004; 164(6): 2003-2012. 15161636

3 - Baik I, Liu Q, Sturgeon S, Stanek III EJ, Okulicz W, Hsieh CC. Reproducibility of assays for steroid hormones, prolactin, and insulin-like growth factor-1 in umbilical cord blood. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 2006;20:79-86. 16420345

4 - Jiang Z, Chu P, Woda BA, Rock KL, Liu Q, Hsieh C-C, Li C, Chen W, Duan H, McDougal S, Wu C-L. Analysis of RNA-binding protein IMP3 to predict metastasis and prognosis of renal-cell carcinoma: a retrospective study. The Lancet Oncology, 2006; 7(7): 556-564. (Earlier published online June 14). 16814207

5 - Liu Q, Lambe M, Baik I, Cnattingius S, Riman T, Ekbom A, Adami H-O, Hsieh C-C. A prospective study of the transient decrease in ovarian cancer risk following childbirth. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 2006; 15(12): 2508-2513. 17164377

6 - Walter SD, Hsieh CC, Liu Q. Effect of exposure misclassification on the mean squared error of population attributable risk and prevented fraction estimates. Statistics in Medicine. 2007; 26:4833-4842. 17691081

7 - Baik I, Lambe M, Liu Q, Chen AH, Cnattingius S, Mucci LA, Riman T, Ekbom A, Adami H-O, Hsieh C-C. Gender of offspring and maternal risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. 2007; 16, 2314-2320.18006920

8 - Lee CW, Simin K, Liu Q, Plescia J, Guha M, Khan A, Hsieh C-C, and Altieri DC. A functional Notch–survivin gene signature in basal breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research. 2008; 10: R97. 19025652

9 - Liu Q, Cook N, Bergström A, Hsieh CC. A two-stage hierarchical regression model for meta-analysis of epidemiologic nonlinear dose response data. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis. 2009; 53: 4157-4167. (doi:10.1016/j.csda.2009.05.001).

10 - Beernink PT, Shaughnessy J, Braga EM, Liu Q, Rice PA, Ram S, and Granoff DM. A meningococcal factor H binding protein mutant that eliminates factor H binding enhances protective antibody responses to vaccination. The Journal of Immunology. 2011; doi:10.4049/jimmunol.1003470. 21325619