Pin Liu

• Platform development of oligonucleotide-based drug delivery to CNS tissues. • Development of oligonucleotide in vitro and in vivo assay to evaluate efficacy, PK/PD, and toxicity. • Antibody-based drug development targeting prion disease. • Setting up the lab and overseeing all lab-related operations.

• Platform development of siRNA-based drug delivery to CNS tissues. • Development of siRNA in vitro and in vivo assays for efficacy, delivery, stability and toxicity readout.

• PI of NIH SBIR Grant R44 AR074820 (Phase I & II) “A phenotypic screen for osteoarthritic pain therapeutics using all-optical electrophysiology” (09/20/2019-08/31/2022). This grant is to develop Optopatch-based high throughput phenotypic drug screening platform for chronic pain treatment. • PI of NIH SBIR Grant R43 MH114781 (Phase I) “All-optical electrophysiology in brain slice for drastically increased throughput” (09/01/2017-08/31/2021). This grant is to develop an industrialized version of the Optopatch brain slice assay and its utility in circuit-based drug discovery. • Development of ASOs as a therapeutic for cancer pain through selective block of sodium channel pain targets. • Development of in vitro cancer pain model and osteoarthritis pain model using human and Non-Human Primates (NHP) dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and rodent DRG neurons to probe potential pain targets. • Development of all-optical excitability and synaptic transmission assays using cultured sensory neurons. • Development of in vivo ASO dose optimization assay by using intrathecal administration of ASOs in rodents. • Management of a team of scientists and research associates.

Project 1: Electrophysiological studies of ion channels underlying distinct firing patterns of action potentials in different neurons, either from isolated neurons prepared using mild enzymatic treatment and mechanical dissociation or from neurons in brain slice preparation. Project 2: Pharmacological studies of ion channels including but not limited to sodium channels, potassium channels, calcium channels, and TRP channels. Project 3: Development of novel treatments for pain based on introducing charged derivatives of local anesthetics through the pore of ion channels that are selectively expressed on pain-sensing neurons, which allows long-lasting inhibition of pain sensing fibers with no effect on motor fibers or sympathetic fibers and should be an improved method of local anesthesia.

• Electrophysiological studies of ion channels underlying distinct firing patterns of action potentials from acute brain slices, cultured neurons, and acutely dissociated cells. • Pharmacological studies of ion channels including but not limited to sodium channels, potassium channels, calcium channels, and TRP channels. • Development of novel treatments for pain based on introducing charged derivatives of local anesthetics through the pore of ion channels that are selectively expressed on pain-sensing neurons, which allows long-lasting inhibition of pain sensing fibers with no effect on motor fibers or sympathetic fibers and should be an improved method of local anesthesia.