Xiaochen Liu

This study focuses on Huntington's disease, a serious brain condition that affects movement, thinking, and mood. Huntington’s disease worsens over time, largely due to certain proteins in the body acting abnormally. As the disease progresses, it can lead to dementia. What's not well-known is how workplace chemicals might speed up the disease. Dr Liu is using advanced computer technology to closely examine how these chemicals interact with the Huntington’s disease proteins. 

This method allows the team to see what happens to these proteins under different conditions, all without needing to do physical experiments. By pinpointing which environmental factors make Huntington’s disease worse, the team could improve workplace safety and provide crucial information for people likely to get the disease. The discoveries might also lead to new treatments and ways to detect the disease early, greatly improving the lives of those with Huntington’s disease and their loved ones. 

Dr Xiaochen Liu is a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Sydney. Her current research focuses on unravelling the complexities of protein folding dynamics through computational methods.