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Qiao Liu, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics
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About

Titles

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Yale University. I received my Ph.D. from Tsinghua University, where I spent the last two years at Stanford University as a visiting Ph.D. student. I did my postdoc with Prof. Wing Hung Wong at Stanford Statistics. I currently lead the Liu Lab at Yale Biostatistics.

Our research lies at the intersection of AI and statistical science, two transformative forces shaping modern data science. We develop AI-powered computational frameworks grounded in statistical rigor, aiming to provide insights from massive and complex biomedical datasets.

Our recent work focuses on leveraging generative AI to address fundamental challenges in high-dimensional data analysis, including causal inference, unsupervised learning, and Bayesian computation. These methodological innovations are motivated by pressing problems in computational biology, where data are massive, complex, and heterogeneous. We work extensively with single-cell genomics, multi-omics integration, pharmacogenomics, and large-scale clinical datasets to uncover biological insights and inform precision medicine.

Our long-term goal is to bridge modern AI and statistical science to build computational tools that are not only powerful and scalable but also trustworthy, interpretable, and reproducible. By combining the flexibility of AI with the rigor of statistics, we aim to drive transformative advances in biomedical research, enabling discoveries that were previously out of reach.

Last Updated on October 01, 2025.

Appointments

Research

Overview

  • Multiomics Integration: We develop statistical and AI-driven methods to integrate diverse molecular data modalities, including genetics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, radiomics at different scale and resolution. Our goal is to build scalable and interpretable computational frameworks that can jointly model heterogeneous multiomics data, recover missing modalities, quantify uncertainty, and reveal regulatory programs across molecular layers.
  • Causal Inference: We develop causal inference methodologies for high-dimensional biomedical data. By combining modern AI techniques and rigorious statistical inference (e.g., Bayesian inference), we aim to 1) estimate causal effects, especially under high-dimensional covaraites or even hidden confounding variable, 2) identify disease-relevant drivers (gene, regualtory elements, regulatory programs) and support interpretable biological discovery.
  • Single Cell Genomics: We develop computational tools for single cell analysis that capture cell hetergeneity, cell state transition, cell-cell/environment communications/response etc. Current reserach interests lie on identifying/discovering biological mechanisms to analyze time‑course data, lineage tracing, CRISPR and small‑molecule perturbation screens. Our models provide insights into gene regulation mechanisms by modeling cell development, transition, response, aging, etc.
  • Pharmacogenomics: We study how genetic and molecular variation influences drug response, treatment sensitivity, and disease progression. By integrating genomics, transcriptomics, and clinical or experimental drug-response data, we aim to develop predictive and causal models that can help identify therapeutic targets and support precision medicine.
  • Genomic Foundation Models: We build context-aware foundation models for regulatory genomics by leveraging large-scale sequence, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and perturbation datasets. Our goal is to develop context-aware models that can learn generalizable representations of gene regulation, predict molecular phenotypes across cell types and conditions, and enable downstream tasks such as genetic variant effect quantification, regulatory element discovery, and phenotype prediction.

Medical Research Interests

Artificial Intelligence; Causality; Computational Biology; Data Science; Deep Learning; Epigenomics; Gene Expression Regulation; Generative Artificial Intelligence; Genomics; Machine Learning; Single-Cell Analysis

Public Health Interests

Bioinformatics; Genetics, Genomics, Epigenetics; Bayesian Statistics; Modeling; Aging

Research at a Glance

Publications Timeline

A big-picture view of Qiao Liu's research output by year.

Publications

Featured Publications

2026

2025

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

Honors

  • honor

    Pathway to Independence Awards (K99/R00)

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number

Locations

  • 300 George Street

    Academic Office

    Ste 501

    New Haven, CT 06511