Binhua Liang, PhD

The Liang lab at the University of Manitoba investigates the role of viruses in pathogenesis and their interaction with hosts. Dr. Liang’s research program is to explore novel omics, bioinformatics, and big data approaches and therapeutics to treat infectious diseases. A component of this research is to identify the determinants or genetic associates for human susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Dr. Liang is a computational biologist in vaccines and therapeutics at the National Microbiology Laboratory Branch (NMLB), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Dr. Liang received his PhD from the University of Manitoba in 2010.

Since then, Dr. Liang joined NMLB as head of Viral Informatics. Dr. Liang’s early studies set the foundation for the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) --based HIV drug resistance testing in Canada. 

In 2017, Dr. Liang joined Vaccines and Therapeutics, NMLB. His studies focus on exploring novel approaches and developing strategies for treating infectious diseases. Dr. Liang’s studies have helped to develop a novel PCS-based HIV vaccine which has been tested and shown effective in preventing SIV infection in a pre-clinical trial. 

Dr. Liang has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers. He serves as a peer review member of The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NESRC) and other granting agencies.

In addition, Dr. Liang also serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals, including Biology, BioMed Research International, Frontiers in Genetics, Frontiers in Microbiology, and Frontiers in Immunology.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba (2010)

Master of Science in Biochemistry, University of Manitoba (2000)

Doctor of Medicine in Internal Medicine, Jilin University (1989)

Awards

Supervisor Award, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kenya (2018)

Excellence Reviewer, Spandidos Publications, United Kingdom (2016)

Research Merit, Public Health Agency of Canada (2013)

Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2007-2010)

Keystone Symposia Scholarship, National Institute of Health Research (2007)

AIDS Scholarship, The International AIDS Society (2006)

University Graduate Scholarship, University of Manitoba (1997-2000)