Fu-Tong Liu, PhD（劉扶東特聘研究員兼所長暨副院長）
Distinguished Research Fellow
Director of Institute of Biomedical Sciences
Academian of Academia Sinica
Vice President of Academia Sinica
Professor Liu received his B.S. degree (1970) from National Taiwan University, and Ph.D. degree (1976) in Chemistry from University of Chicago, Illinois. His research is focused on the investigation of the functions of a family of animal lectins, galectins, in inflammation, innate immunity, cancer, and adiposity. In the area of inflammation, he is studying the roles of galectin-3, -7, and -8 in skin inflammation, by focusing on their regulation of cytokine and chemokine production by keratinocytes. In the area of innate immunity, he is studying 1) galectin-3’s effect on retrovirus transmission and influenza virus infection and 2) the role of galectin-8 and -9 in host-pathogen interactions in the gastrointestinal track. In the area of cancer, he is focusing on the role of galectin-3 and -7 in skin cancer. In the area of adiposity, he is focusing on galectin-12. He is devoting an effort to studying the intracellular function of galectins through binding to glycans exposed to the cytosol when intracellular organelles are damaged. He is developing galectin-3 inhibitors for treatment of inflammatory diseases and cancers, and galectin-12 inhibitors to target adipose tissues for the purpose of reducing adiposity.