Chenshu Liu, assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a highly competitive Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The five-year grant, totaling more than $430,000, will support Liu's research into understanding cellular quality control mechanisms, where defective egg cells are eliminated during reproduction. Liu's recent breakthrough revealed that a protein called Piezo — a channel that responds to physical force — sits in the nuclear envelope, the membrane surrounding a cell's genetic material, and is essential for meiotic quality control. This suggests cells may use mechanical forces as a surveillance mechanism. Liu is currently investigating how Piezo enables quality control, how the nuclear envelope balances producing enough eggs while maintaining quality, and how this quality control system has evolved across different species.

The MIRA program is one of the NIH's most prestigious awards, providing long-term, stable funding to outstanding investigators. By supporting the overall research program rather than individual projects, MIRA gives scientists enhanced flexibility to pursue ambitious work with broad biomedical impact, follow novel directions and respond quickly to emerging opportunities in their fields.

“I’m incredibly honored to receive this support from the NIH through the MIRA program,” Liu said. “This award allows my lab to pursue high-risk, high-reward ideas and develop new tools to understand the mechanisms and roles of nuclear envelope dynamics in meiotic quality control. The flexibility of MIRA funding gives us the freedom to follow the science wherever it leads — including unexpected directions — and I’m deeply grateful to the NIH for investing in early-stage investigators and fundamental science. This grant also enables us to train the next generation of scientists through hands-on, curiosity-driven research.”

The overall goal of Liu's research is to understand how quality control is achieved during meiosis. Meiosis is the specialized process cells use to create sperm and eggs, reducing the genetic material by exactly half so that when sperm meets egg, the offspring has the right amount. When meiosis goes wrong, eggs can end up with the wrong number of chromosomes — a leading cause of infertility, miscarriage and conditions like Down syndrome. Cells have a built-in quality control system to detect and eliminate these defective eggs and sperm, but scientists don't fully understand how it works.

Recent discoveries suggest that the nuclear envelope plays a critical role in this quality control process. Liu's lab focuses on developing egg cells called oocytes to understand how the nuclear envelope detects chromosomal errors and triggers the removal of defective cells. The team uses multiple cutting-edge techniques, including high-resolution live imaging that lets researchers watch cells in action, genetic manipulation and bioengineering approaches.

Liu's primary research organism is a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. He can easily modify its genes and observe its cells under the microscope in living animals. Many of its biological pathways are similar to those in humans, making it an ideal "pioneer model" for exploring this new area of research.

This research addresses fundamental questions at the intersection of cell biology, genetics and developmental biology. Piezo2 proteins, which form a crucial channel for senses like light touch and vibration detection, are abundant in human ovarian follicles containing oocytes, findings from this work are expected to reveal principles governing accurate genetic transmission during sexual reproduction across species. The research will also advance understanding of nuclear envelope dynamics relevant to numerous cellular processes. Also, novel experimental tools developed during this project will have broad applications for investigating diverse biological mechanisms in living organisms.