Rate My Professor Liqin Zhao

Liqin Zhao is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy. She also serves as an Investigator at the Life Span Institute and Program Director for the “Beyond the Lab” career development program. Zhao earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University in 1999. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology in 2002 and held positions at the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy from 2006 to 2013, including Research Scientist in Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology, Research Assistant Professor and Research Associate Professor in Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Director of Translational Research Laboratory, and Director of Core Facilities and Services.

Zhao’s research centers on the neuroendocrinology, neurometabobiology, and neuroglycobiology of aging, with a focus on sex and genetic influences on brain metabolism that contribute to brain resilience or risk for sporadic Alzheimer’s disease and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Her lab has received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health, including R01 grants to develop rhApoE2 as a therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease prevention and treatment. She has authored over 50 research articles, delivered 80 conference presentations, and holds six patents, four granted. Key publications include “Human ApoE Isoforms Differentially Modulate Brain Glucose and Ketone Body Metabolism: Implications for Alzheimer’s Disease Risk Reduction and Early Intervention” (Journal of Neuroscience, 2018), “Sialometabolism in Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Disease” (Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2021), “Opposing Effects of ApoE2 and ApoE4 on Glycolytic Metabolism in Neuronal Aging Supports a Warburg Neuroprotective Cascade against Alzheimer’s Disease” (Cells, 2023), and “Human apolipoprotein E isoforms are differentially sialylated and the sialic acid moiety in ApoE2 attenuates ApoE2-Aβ interaction and Aβ fibrillation” (Neurobiology of Disease, 2022). In 2024, she was appointed a standing member of the NIH Neural Oxidative Metabolism, Mitochondria, and Cell Death study section. Her work has been featured in KU News, NPR News, Nature Medicine, and the Alzheimer’s Association. Zhao teaches pharmacology of the nervous system in the Pharm.D., M.S., and Ph.D. programs.