Jia Liu
Jia Liu is an American-based scientist and engineer. He is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). Liu is recognized for his contributions to soft bioelectronics, cyborg engineering, and the development of "tissue-like" electronics designed for brain-machine interfaces (BMIs).
Early life and education
Liu completed his undergraduate education in China before moving to the United States for graduate studies. In 2014, he earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Harvard University under the supervision of Charles M. Lieber. His doctoral research focused on the integration of nanoelectronics with biological systems. For his dissertation work, he received the Springer Thesis Award in 2016.
From 2015 to 2018, Liu was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, working in the laboratories of Zhenan Bao and Karl Deisseroth. During this period, he researched methods for the genetically targeted chemical assembly of functional materials within living tissues.
Academic career
In 2019, Liu joined the faculty of Harvard University as an Assistant Professor at SEAS. He also holds appointments as a core faculty member at the Harvard Center for Brain Science and as an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
He leads the Liu Group, a research laboratory focused on the intersection of materials science, bioengineering, and neuroscience. The group's primary objective is to develop seamless interfaces between electronic systems and biological organisms.
Research and developments
Liu’s research focuses on three primary areas:
Tissue-Like Bioelectronics: The development of electronic components that mimic the mechanical properties (such as softness and flexibility) of biological tissue. This approach aims to reduce immune responses and improve the stability of long-term neural and cardiac recordings.
Cyborg Organoids: A method of embedding mesh-like nanoelectronics into stem-cell-derived organoids during their developmental phase. This allows for the continuous 3D monitoring of cellular activity throughout organogenesis.
NeuroAI and Agentic AI: More recently, Liu has explored the integration of bioelectronics with artificial intelligence to create autonomous AI agents for scientific discovery and "lifelong learning" systems.
Entrepreneurship
Liu has co-founded several companies to commercialize his research:
Axoft, Inc.: A neurotechnology company focused on high-density, soft brain-machine interfaces for treating neurological conditions.
Elastro, Inc.: A venture dedicated to flexible bioelectronic therapeutics.
MorphMind (formerly AIScientists, Inc.): A firm focused on the application of agentic AI in scientific research.
