Xin Liu Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Dr. Xin Liu received her bachelor degree in Bioinformatics from Tongji University in 2007. She received her PhD degree in bioinformatics and drug design from National University of Singapore in Feb 2013. She joined Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Feb 2019 as a lecturer in bioinformatics.

Her previous research centers around system biology and computer aided drug design. Her systems analysis of cross-talks between signaling pathways promises to facilitate, at the systems level, the understanding of mechanisms of biological processes, diseases and enhanced therapeutic efficacies of multi-targeting drugs and drug combinations. She also developed a machine learning based quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) method which extended the applicability of QSAR methods beyond similarity-based applicability domains (ADs). This QSAR method is capable of searching large chemical libraries for virtual hits, especially novel ones, at comparable yield and substantially improved hit rate and enrichment factor in comparison with an established method. She has published 10 peer-reviewed papers in such top journals in the field of medicinal chemistry as Current Medicinal Chemistry, PNAS and Nucleic Acids Research.

Before joining XJTLU, Dr. Liu worked in industry for 6 years devoting to the exploration of molecular mechanisms of human diseases and biomarker identification by multi-omics methods and data mining.


  • Ph.D, National University of Singapore, 2013
  • B.Eng, Tongji University, 2007


  • Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University - 2019 to Present
  • Bioinformatics Department Manager, Shanghai Genechem Co.,Ltd. - 2016 to 2019
  • Bioinformatics Team Leader, Shanghai Applied Protein Technology Co., Ltd. - 2013 to 2016


  • Systems analysis of cross-talks between pathways facilitating systems level understanding human diseases and drug target identification
  • Development of machine learning based quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) method for high throughput screening of novel drug hits
  • Biomarker discovery by high throughput –omics data mining by incorporating consensus scoring of multiple random sampling and multistep evaluation of gene-ranking consistency for maximally avoiding erroneous elimination of predictor genes


  • Wang Y, Li J, Huang D, Hao Y, Li B, Wang K, Chen B, Li T, Liu X*. Comparing Bayesian-Based Reconstruction Strategies in Topology-Based Pathway Enrichment Analysis. Biomolecules. 2022 Jun 28;12(7):906.
  • X. Liu, F. Zhu, X.H. Ma, Z. Shi, S.Y. Yang, Y.Q. Wei and Y.Z. Chen. Predicting Targeted Polypharmacology for Drug Repositioning and Multi-Target Drug Discovery. Curr Med Chem. 20(13):1646-1661 (2013).
  • X. Liu, Z. She, Y. Xue, Z.R. Li, S.Y. Yang and Y.Z. Chen. In silico prediction of adverse drug reactions and toxicities based on structural, biological and clinical data. Curr Drug Saf. Jul 1;7(3):225-37 (2012).
  • X. Liu, F. Zhu, X.H. Ma, L, Tao, J.X. Zhang, S.Y. Yang, Y.C. Wei and Y.Z. Chen. The Therapeutic Target Database: an internet resource for the primary targets of approved, clinical trial and experimental drugs. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 15(8):903-12 (2011).
  • S.Y. Chen, P. Zhang, X. Liu, C. Qin, L. Tao, C. Zhang, S.Y. Yang, Y.Z. Chen, W.K. Chui. Towards cheminformatics-based estimation of drug therapeutic index: Predicting the protective index of anticonvulsants using a new quantitative structure-index relationship approach. J. Mol. Graph. Model. 67:102-110 (2016).
  • X.H. Ma, F. Zhu, X. Liu, Z. Shi, J.X. Zhang, S.Y. Yang, Y.Q. Wei and Y.Z. Chen. Virtual screening methods as tools for drug lead discovery from large chemical libraries. Curr Med Chem. 19(32):5562-71 (2012).
  • B.C. Han, X.H. Ma, R.Y. Zhao, J.X. Zhang, X.N. Wei, X.H. Liu, X. Liu, C.L. Zhang, C.Y. Tan, Y.Y. Jiang and Y.Z. Chen. Development and experimental test of support vector machines virtual screening method for searching Src inhibitors from large compound libraries. Chem Cent J. 6:139 (2012).
  • F. Zhu, X.H. Ma, C. Qin, L. Tao, X. Liu, Z. Shi, C.L. Zhang, C.Y. Tan, Y.Y. Jiang and Y.Z. Chen. Drug Discovery Prospect from Untapped Species: Indications from Approved Natural Product Drugs. PLoS ONE. 7(7):e39782 (2012).
  • F. Zhu, Z. Shi, C. Qin, L. Tao, X. Liu, F. Xu, L. Zhang, Y. Song, X.H. Liu, J.X. Zhang, B.C. Han, P. Zhang and Y.Z. Chen. Therapeutic Target Database Update 2012: A Resource for Facilitating Target-Oriented Drug Discovery. Nucleic Acids Res. 40(D1):D1128-D1136 (2012).
  • F. Zhu, C. Qin, L. Tao, X. Liu, Z. Shi, X.H. Ma, J. Jia, Y. Tan, C. Cui, J.S. Lin, C.Y. Tan, Y.Y. Jiang, and Y.Z. Chen. Clustered patterns of species origins of nature-derived drugs and clues for future bioprospecting. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 108(31):12943-8 (2011).
  • F. Zhu, C.J. Zheng, L.Y. Han, B. Xie, J. Jia, X. Liu, M.T. Tammi, S.Y. Yang, Y.Q. Wei and Y.Z. Chen. Trends in the Exploration of Anticancer Targets and Strategies in Enhancing the Efficacy of Drug Targeting. Curr Mol Pharmacol. 1(3):213-232 (2008).


  • X. Liu, Z.W. Cao, X. Chen and Y.Z. Chen. Normal mode analysis in protein flexibility in drug design. Poster presentation in the 3rd HOPE Meeting, Tokyo, Japan. (2011).


  • Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation Young-Scholar Programme [BK20200253] (江苏省自然科学基金青年基金项目)
  • XJTLU Key Programme Special Fund [KSF-E-41](西交利物浦大学重点项目建设专项)


  • Bioinformatics I - BIO211
  • Practical Bioinformatics – BIO206
  • High-Throughput Approaches and Systems Biology – BIO316
Xin Liu