Judy Liu facts for kids
Judy Shih-Hwa Liu is a very smart scientist and professor at Brown University. She teaches about the eye (called Ophthalmology) and how the brain works (called Neuroscience). Her main work is studying problems in the brain that can cause epilepsy, a condition where people have seizures.
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Judy Liu's Journey to Science
Judy Liu started her amazing journey in science at Yale University, where she earned her first degree. After that, she moved to New York to continue her studies. There, she earned two more important degrees: a PhD and an MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
After finishing medical school, she completed a special training program in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2001, she became a resident doctor specializing in brain and nerve problems (neurology) at the same hospital.
Understanding Epilepsy and the Brain
Dr. Liu's main research focuses on a type of epilepsy caused by a problem in the brain called focal cortical dysplasia. This is when parts of the brain don't form correctly. She studies brain tissues removed during surgery to understand this condition better.
The Body's Inner Clock
She discovered that these brain tissues are affected by our body's natural clock, called the circadian rhythm. This is the 24-hour cycle that tells us when to sleep and wake up. A special protein called CLOCK (which stands for Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput) helps control this rhythm in our brain.
Dr. Liu looked closely at the genetic material (called RNA) in the removed brain tissues. She found differences in the CLOCK protein's RNA. To learn more, her team created special mouse models. Some mice had brain cells where the CLOCK protein didn't work right. Other mice had problems with cells that normally calm brain activity.
The mice with problems in their CLOCK protein suffered from epilepsy, similar to humans. This research helps us understand how our body's clock might be linked to seizures.
Awards and New Discoveries
In 2017, Dr. Liu received an award from Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy. This award helped her study how the CLOCK protein and sleep are connected to seizures. She also helped write a book in 2012 called Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies, which is an important resource for understanding epilepsy.
Dr. Liu has also received other important awards. She got the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation NASRAD Young Investigator Award. She also received a grant from the Whitehall Foundation. These awards helped her study how nerve cells (called axons) develop.
In 2013, she received another grant to study how to stop seizures from starting. This research looks at tiny genetic messages (called mRNA and microRNA) in people with cortical dysplasia and tuberous sclerosis. Tuberous sclerosis is another condition that can cause brain problems and epilepsy.
