Inaugural Professorial Lecture - Professor Ping Liu

Arginine metabolism: implications for normal and pathological brain aging.

About Professor Ping Liu's research.

With a background in medicine, Ping works at the interface between the laboratory and diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Arginine is a semi-essential amino acid with several bioactive metabolites. Ping’s group has been working in the areas of arginine metabolism and aging, neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders, using post-mortem human brain tissue, human biofluids and various animal models via a multidisciplinary approach. Her research to date has implicated the alterations of brain arginine metabolism in the process of normal aging and in the pathogeneses of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. Ping and her collaborators are currently exploring the potential use of blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers centered on arginine metabolism for clinical diagnosis and prognosis of both diseases. Moreover, her team has been investigating the role of decarboxylated arginine in maintaining healthy aging and its therapeutic potential for Alzheimer’s disease.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee & juice.