Rate My Professor Ping Liu

Professor Ping Liu is a professor in the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Otago. She holds an MB from Anhui Medical University and a PhD from the University of Otago. Prior to her academic career in New Zealand, Liu worked as a geriatric physician in China for eight years. Her research investigates the neurobiological basis and interventions for age-related cognitive decline, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, and psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia. Central to her work is the examination of altered arginine metabolism in brain aging and disease pathogenesis. Using multidisciplinary approaches encompassing behavioral testing, in vivo microdialysis, neurochemical analysis, molecular biology, immunohistochemistry, and electrophysiology, her laboratory explores central and peripheral arginine metabolism. Specific foci include the functional role of agmatine, a decarboxylated arginine metabolite and putative novel neurotransmitter, in learning and memory, along with its therapeutic potential for cognitive decline, and the identification of arginine-centered biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid for diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Promoted to full professor in 2020, Liu has supervised numerous PhD theses on arginine metabolism and the urea cycle in tauopathies, L-arginine metabolism in Alzheimer's disease models, agmatine and age-related cognitive decline, endothelial nitric oxide synthase deficiency implications for Alzheimer's, and maternal immune activation's impact on offspring brain arginine metabolism. Key publications include "AMH regulates ovary size by counteracting the positive influence of clustered ovarian follicle growth" (Human Reproduction, 2026), "Beneficial effects of long-term agmatine supplementation in aged rats" (AWCBR Proceedings, 2024), "PSA-NCAM regulatory gene expression changes in the Alzheimer's disease entorhinal cortex revealed with multiplexed in situ hybridization" (Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2023), "Cognitive and arginine metabolic correlates of temporal dysfunction in the MIA rat model of schizophrenia risk" (Behavioral Neuroscience, 2023), and "Altered polyamine system in the P301S (PS19) tauopathy model" (AWCBR Proceedings, 2022). She delivered the Inaugural Professorial Lecture "Arginine metabolism: implications for normal and pathological brain." Her contributions inform advancements in brain health research.