Assistant Professor Yan Liu

Assistant Professor
Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

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Research Interests and Achievements

Dr Yan Liu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, which he joined in June 2026.

Dr Liu is interested in developing tools for biologists and clinicians. A key focus of his research is overcoming the optical diffusion limit that constrains the operating depth of optical techniques, enabling light focusing and high-resolution imaging deep within opaque biological tissues. To achieve this, he and his colleagues have developed optical phase conjugation-based advanced adaptive optics (wavefront shaping) techniques, including time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRUE) optical focusing and time-reversed adapted perturbation (TRAP) optical focusing. These approaches enable noninvasive, high-resolution optical imaging, manipulation (e.g. optogenetics, optical tweezers), and therapy deep within biological tissues.

More recently, he has advanced adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) for noninvasive, longitudinal imaging of the human eye in vivo at the cellular level. This technology has the potential to transform ophthalmology by advancing our understanding of disease pathophysiology, enabling early diagnosis of blinding diseases such as glaucoma, and improving treatment monitoring to accelerate lengthy clinical trials. These advancements will expedite the development of effective therapies, ultimately improving patient care.

Additionally, his research has encompassed photoacoustic imaging, acousto-optic imaging (ultrasound-modulated optical tomography), and fluorescence imaging.

Broadly, he is passionate about understanding complex systems and developing innovative tools to study them.

Dr Liu received his bachelor's degree in Physics and Optical Engineering from Tsinghua University and his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University under the supervision of Prof. Lihong V. Wang. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology with Prof. Changhuei Yang, and was subsequently a research associate at the Indiana University School of Optometry with Prof. Donald Miller.

Dr Liu is recruiting graduate students and research fellows. Prospective candidates are welcome to contact him by email or visit his website for more information.

Selected Publications

View the full list of publications on Google Scholar.

Collaborations

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