Dr. Xiaorong Liu, Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Name:

Dr. Xiaorong Liu

Title:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Describe your research in about 200 words.

My research focuses on the development and application of accurate and high-throughput computational methods to effectively guide the design of drug molecules, biologics, and functional proteins. Computational tools such as docking and machine learning have been increasingly used in these areas. They are highly effective, for example, in identifying lead molecules with promising activities. When we further optimize these lead molecules, we have to use highly accurate, physics-based free energy approaches. My lab will develop novel free energy methods that aim to address a major bottleneck in existing approaches, which is the high computational cost and limited throughput.

What’s the most interesting thing you have learned from a student?

What I find most fascinating when interacting with students is their curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm! I am constantly getting inspiration on how to be a better teacher and mentor.