Welcome

Michelle Xiao-Qing Liu, M.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor (Tenured)
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba

Scientist, Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba

John Buhler Research Centre
807J - 715 McDermot Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3P4
Phone: (204) 480-1363 Email: liu at umanitoba.ca

Research Interests:
I am interested in applying epidemiological and biostatistical methods to gene mapping of monogenic and complex human traits/disorders. Currently, my group is working on the following research projects:

1) gene mapping for autism and autism-related quantitative traits using combined genome-wide microarray
and sequencing data;

2) gene mapping for autism using twins and genome-wide DNA methylation and RNA seq data;

3) epidemiological studies for the relationships between autism and ‘non-genetic’ risk factors (e.g. prenatal and
perinatal complications, etc.);

4) chorioncity and genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in newborn twins.

Courses:
BGEN7130 Genetic Epidemiology of Human Populations (graduate: winter 2012-2018)

BGEN3020 Introduction to Human Genetics (undergraduate: 2011-2018):

IMED7170 Medical Genetics (graduate: fall 2015 and 2017):

BGEN4010 Project Course in Human Genetics (4 undergraduate students: 2011/2012 - 2015/2016)

Introduction to Research Methods (medical residents: 2012-2018)

Selected Publications (current and past group members are underlined):
1) Chowdhury B, Xiang B, Liu M, Hemming R, Dolinsky VW, Triggs-Raine B (2017) Hyaluronidase 2-
deficiency causes increased mesenchymal cells, congenital heart defects and heart failure. Circulation:
Cardiovascular Genetics 10:e001598. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001598

2) Friedrichs S, Malzahn D, Pugh E, de Almeida MAA, Liu XQ, and Bailey JN: Filtering genetic variants and
placing informative priors based on putative biological function. BMC Genetics 17 (Suppl 2): 8, 2016

3) Liu XQ, Fazio J, Hu PZ, Paterson AD: Identity-by-descent mapping for diastolic blood pressure
in unrelated Mexican Americans. BMC Processings 10 (Suppl 7): 263-267, 2016.

4) Altman AD, Liu XQ, Nelson G, Chu P, Nation J, Ghatage P: The effects of anemia and blood transfusion on patients with stage III-IV ovarian cancer. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer 23: 1569-76, 2013

5) Zelinski T, Coghlan G, Liu XQ, Reid ME: ABCG2 null alleles define the Jr(a-) blood group
phenotype. Nature Genetics 44: 131-132, 2012

6) Szatmari P, Liu XQ, Goldberg J, Zwaigenbaum L, Paterson AD, Woodbury-Smith M, Georgiades S and The Autism Genome Project Consortium: Sex differences in repetitive stereotyped behaviours in autism: implications for genetic liability. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 159B: 5-12, 2012

7) Liu XQ, Georgiades S, Duku E, Thompson A, Devlin B, Cook EH, Wijsman EM, Paterson AD, Szatmari
P: Identification of genetic loci underlying the phenotypic constructs of autism spectrum disorders.
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 50: 687-696, 2011

8) Liu M, Shi S, Senthilnathan S, Yu J, Wu E, Bergmann C, Zerres K, Bogdanova N, Coto E, Deltas
C,Pierides A, Demetriou K, Devuyst O, Gitomer B, Laakso M, Lumiaho A, Lamnissou K, Magistroni R,
Parfrey P, Breuning M, Peters DJ, Torra R, Winearls CG, Torres VE, Harris PC, Paterson AD, Pei Y:
Genetic Variation of DKK3 May Modify Renal Disease Severity in ADPKD. Journal of the American
Society of Nephrology 21: 1510-1520, 2010 [PDF file]

9) Liu XQ, Paterson AD, Szatmari P, The Autism Genome Project Consortium: Genome-wide linkage
analyses of quantitative and categorical autism sub-phenotypes. Biological Psychiatry, 64: 561-570,
2008 [PDF file]

10) Liu XQ, Paterson AD, He N, George-Hyslop PS, Rauta V, Gronhagen-Riska C, Laakso M, Thibaudin L,
Berthoux F, Cattran D, Pei Y: IL5RA and TNFRSF6B gene variants are associated with sporadic IgA
nephropathy. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 19: 1025-1033, 2008 [PDF file]

11) Paterson AD, Liu XQ, Wang K, Magistroni R, Song X, Kappel J, Klassen J, Cattran D, George-Hyslop
PS, Pei Y: Localization of a novel disease susceptibility locus to chromosome 2q36 by genome-wide
linkage scan of a large Canadian family with IgA nephropathy. Journal of the American Society of
Nephrology 18: 2408-15, 2007

12) Liu XQ, Paterson AD, John E, Knight J: The role of self-defined ethnicity in population structure
control. Annals of Human Genetics 70: 496-505, 2006 [PDF file]

13) Qu HQ, Bharaj B, Liu XQ, Curtis JA, Newhook LA, Paterson AD, Hudson TJ, Polychronakos C:
Assessing the validity of the association between the SUMO4 M55V variant and risk of type 1
diabetes. Nature Genetics 37: 111-112, 2005 [PDF file]

14) Liu XQ, Greenwood C, Wang KS, Paterson AD: A genome scan for parent-of-origin linkage effects
in alcoholism. BMC Genetics 6 (suppl 1), S160, 2005 (Genetic Analysis Workshop 14) [PDF file]

15) Liu XQ, Hanley AJG, Paterson AD: Genetics of factors underlying cardiovascular disease-related
phenotypes. BMC Genetics 4 (suppl 1), S56, 2003 (Genetic Analysis Workshop 13) [PDF file]

16) Kendler KS, Liu XQ, Gardner CO, McCullough ME, Larson D, Prescott CA: Dimensions of
religiosity and their relationship to lifetime psychiatric and substance use disorders. American
Journal of Psychiatry 160: 496-503, 2003 [PDF file]

Selected Abstracts (current and past group members are underlined):
1) Anhalt A, Simard LR, Hanlon-Dearman A, and Liu XQ: An Epigenetic Study forAutism Spectrum Disorders
Using Twins. The 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, 2015

2) Tong G, Fazio J, Simard LR, Liu XQ: Gene mapping for autism spectrum disorders using a multiple IBD
clustering method. The 11th Annual Child Health Research Day by the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of
Manitoba, 2015

Silver award for the undergraduate student competition (Tong G)

3) Anhalt A, Simard LR, Hanlon-Dearman A, Liu XQ: Genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in twins with
autism spectrum disorders. The 11th Annual Child Health Research Day by the Children’s Hospital Research
Institute of Manitoba, 2015

Honourable mention for the graduate student competition (Anhalt A)

4) Tran TJ, Simard LR, Hunt J, Liu XQ: Relationships between DNA methylation levels and
chorionicity in newborn twins. The 28th Annual Canadian Student Health Research Forum, 2015

5) Anhalt A, Simard LR, Hanlon-Dearman A, Liu XQ: An Epigenetic Study forAutism Spectrum Disorders
Using Twins. The 28th Annual Canadian Student Health Research Forum, 2015

The 2015 Dean of Graduate Studies Poster Award (Anhalt A)

6) Anhalt A, Simard LR, Liu XQ: Prenatal and perinatal risk factors for autism spectrum disorders.
The 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, the United States, 2014.

7) Hu PZ, Wang ZZ, Liu XQ: A graph based algorithm to identify recurrent runs of homozygosity
variants in a Mexican American sample. The 19th Genetic Analysis Workshop, Vienna, Austria, 2014.

8) Tran TJ, Simard LR, Hunt J, Liu XQ: Relationships among genome-wide DNA methylation profiles,
chorionicity, and perinatal factors in twins. The 3rd Annual Canadian Human and Statistical Genetics Meeting,
2014.

9) Liu XQ, Rabbi M, Burchill C, Simard L, Roos L: The Manitoba twin cohort. The 1st Annual Canadian Human
and Statistical Genetics Meeting, 2012.