Alexander Liu

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Marco Colonna, MD

Undergraduate university: Case Western Reserve University, 2021

Enrollment year: 2022

Research summary
Developing Novel Chimeric Antigen Receptor Astrocyte (CAR-A) Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease

My research focuses on developing novel cellular-based Chimeric Antigen Receptor Astrocyte (CAR-A) therapy to target amyloid pathology for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Graduate publications
Rodrigues PF*, Wu S*, Trsan T, Panda SK, Fachi JL, Liu Y, Du S, de Oliveira S, Antonova AU, Khantakova D, Sudan R, Desai P, Diamond MS, Gilfillan S, Anderson SK, Cella M, Colonna M. 2025 Rorγt-positive dendritic cells are required for the induction of peripheral regulatory T cells in response to oral antigens. Cell, 188(10):2720-2737.e22. PMCID: PMC12085292

Cao S, Nguyen KM, Ma K, Tan T, Yao X, Liu TC, Ayoub M, Devi J, Samaan S, Liu Y, Smith R, Silviera ML, Hunt SR, Wise PE, Mutch MG, Glasgow SC, Chapman WC Jr, Cowan ML, Ciorba MA, Colonna M, Deepak P, SPARC IBD Investigators. 2025 Revealing hyperactivated IFN-γ pathways in perianal fistulizing Crohn’s disease using single-cell and spatial multi-omics. J Clin Invest, 135(17):e193413. PMCID: PMC12404762

Lonardi S, Bianchetto-Aguilera FM, Monti M, Di Matteo A, Missale F, Picinoli S, Bugatti M, Benedetti M, Ferrari G, Cassatella MA, Moratto D, Zini S, Agostini V, Savoldi V, Lorenzi L, Chiarini M, Facchetti F, Wu S, Antonova AU, Liu YA, Cella M, Ghigna C, Colonna M, Vermi W. 2025 Mapping of RORγt+ dendritic cells in human tissues establishes their preferential niche in adult lymph nodes. Front Immunol, 16():1527499. PMCID: PMC12162286

Molgora M, Liu YA, Colonna M, Cella M. 2023 TREM2: A new player in the tumor microenvironment. Semin Immunol, 67():101739

Pfeifer CW, Walsh JT, Santeford A, Lin JB, Beatty WL, Terao R, Liu YA, Hase K, Ruzycki PA, Apte RS. 2023 Dysregulated CD200-CD200R signaling in early diabetes modulates microglia-mediated retinopathy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 120(45):e2308214120. PMCID: PMC10636339