News and Events

What’s New

2020 News and Events

Dr. Liming Liang named PI on multi-core center grant funded by NIDDK

PGSG is pleased to report that Dr. Liming Liang has been named a PI on a multi-core center grant in response to RFA-DK-20-005, “Development of Biomarkers of Dietary Intake and Exposure”, to establish a Dietary Biomarker Development Center (DBDC) and to develop an integrated diet intervention, metabolomics, and data analysis pipeline to identify dietary biomarkers. The proposed Biomarkers Project will focus on food biomarker discovery through a pharmacokinetics trial and a dose-response trial from plasma and urine samples in phase 1, and examine and validate the food markers in completed feeding trials and observational studies in phases 2 and 3. Dr. Liang will serve as the PI for the Data Analyses Core, and is joined by M-PIs Drs. Frank Hu and Clary Clish for the center itself.

Dr. Zhaozhong Zhu Named Winner of Metabolism Journal Junior Faculty Member Award

On December 18, 2020, Zhaozhong Zhu, a former postdoc in Dr. Liming Liang’s group, was named winner of the Metabolism Journal’s Junior Faculty Member Award based on a recent Obesity and COVID-19 paper.1

1Zhu Z#, Hasegawa K, Ma B, Fujiogi M, Camargo CA Jr, Liang L*. (2020) Association of obesity and its genetic predisposition with the risk of severe COVID-19: Analysis of population-based cohort data. Metabolism. 2020 Aug 22;112:154345.

Dr. Zhaozhong Zhu Receives Faculty Appointment at MGH/HMS

Zhaozhong Zhu, a former postdoc in Dr. Liming Liang’s group, started a faculty position at Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School. He is now an Assistant Professor in both institutions.

PGSG scientists featured for identification of ‘Metabolic Signature’ that may help predict cardiovascular disease risk.

Research recently published in the European Heart Journal identified a ‘metabolic signature’ consisted of 67 metabolites that can measure adherence and metabolic response to the Mediterranean Diet and may help predict future risk of cardiovascular disease.

Liming Liang, Associate Professor of Statistical Genetics in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics & member of PGSG, was co-senior author of the study. Jun Li, a Research Scientist in the Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology & a member of the Liang Group, was the study’s first author.

Read more about the paper in the recent HSPH press release.

New faces

Get to know the many new faces of PGSG.  Several new postdoctoral fellows and visiting researchers have joined PGSG in the last few months. The program’s growth reflects the expertise of its members and impressive impact of the research they conduct on the scientific community.

Dr. Yanjun Guo Named Barry R. and Irene Tilenius Bloom Fellow, 2019-20

On January 10, 2020, Yanjun Guo, a postdoc in Dr. Liming Liang’s group, was awarded the Barry R. and Irene Tilenius Bloom Fellowship for 2019-20. This fellowship, awarded to individuals of outstanding academic merit, leadership potential, and commitment to improving public health, provides financial support for students/postdocs at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

2019 News and Events

Dr. Wonil Chung Receives Faculty Appointment at Soongsil University

Wonil Chung, a postdoc in Dr. Liming Liang’s group, started a faculty position at the Soongsil University, located in Seoul, South Korea, on September 1st, 2019.

Grants and Awards

Jie (Jack) Hu was awarded as a semifinalist for the 2019 Charles J. Epstein Trainee Awards of Excellence in Human Genetics Research at the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, held in Houston, Texas, October 15-19, 2019. Jack is a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Kathryn Rexrode in the Division of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He has been working with Dr. Liming Liang on the awarded project.