Research Areas

Reproductive Immunology

Research Interests

Immunology on normal pregnancy and pregnancy-related diseases (recurrent pregnancy loss, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, etc.): roles, mechanisms and clinical translation.

Biography

Dr. Aihua Liao is the Professor and Head of the Institute of Reproductive Health (IRH) at Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). She is the 2019 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the American Society for Reproductive Immunology. Dr. Liao is also the Chinese representative of the "International Women's Health Research" joint program between HUST and Wayne State University School of Medicine in US.

She currently serves as the Associated Editor of American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, Hypertension in Pregnancy, and the Journal of Reproductive Immunology. Her keen interest is to understand the immunological communication between maternal and fetal components of pregnancy and how the disruption of this crosstalk leads to the pregnancy-related diseases including recurrent miscarriage and pre-eclampsia. Her recent work also involves in reproductive aging and pregnancy-induced Immune memory. She has led more than ten national-level projects and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Education

• M.D. in Immunology at University Hospital of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

• Ph.D. in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Huzhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

• Master in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tongji Medical University, Wuhan, China

• Bachelor in Medicine at Tongji Medical University, Wuhan, China

Professional Experience

• Professor, Institute of Reproductive Health, Tongji Medical College at Hashing University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

• Visiting scholar, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Vernon Hills, IL, USA

• Visiting scholar, Immunology Institute, University Hospital of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

Awards and Honors

• 2023 to present, Associated Editor of Hypertension in Pregnancy,

• 2023 to present, Associated Editor of Journal of Reproductive Immunology

• 2019 Distinguished Service Award, American Society for Reproductive Immunology

• 2018 to present, Associated Editor of American Journal of Reproductive Immunology

• 2020 to 2023, Editorial member of Journal of Reproductive Immunology

• 2018 Co-chair, John Godson Award Competition, In: American-Sino Joint Meeting of Reproductive Immunology, Shanghai, China

• 2017 Co-Chair, Session 12 on “Co-stimulatory signals and pathways at maternal fetal interface”, in: 37th annual congress for the American Society of Reproductive Immunology (ASRI), Chicago, USA

Publications

• A complete list for Dr. Liao’s publications can be found at:

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Liao+Aihua%2C+Wuhan&sort=date

• Peer-reviewed original articles from past 2 years

1. Gong GS, Zhang YJ, Hu XH, Lin XX, Liao AH. PD-1-Enhanced Treg Cell Senescence in Advanced Maternal Age. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Feb;12(6):e2411613.

2. Maxwell A, Swanson G, Thy Nguyen A, Hu A, Richards D, You Y, Stephan L, Manaloto M, Liao A, Ding J, Mor G. Hydroquinone impairs trophoblast migration and invasion via AHR-twist-IFITM1 axis. Placenta. 2024 Sep 26;155:88-99.

3. Zhao SJ, Hu XH, Lin XX, Zhang YJ, Wang J, Wang H, Gong GS, Mor G, Liao AH. IL-27/Blimp-1 axis regulates the differentiation and function of Tim-3⁺Tregs during early pregnancy. JCI Insight. 2024;Aug 22; 9(16):e179233.

4. Maxwell A, Swanson G, Nguyen AT, Hu A, Richard D, You Y, Stephan L, Manaloto M, Liao AH, Ding JH, Mor G. Hydroquinone impairs trophoblast migration and invasion via AHR-twist-IFITM1 axis. Placenta. 2024;155:1-12

5. Wang H, Wang L, Gong G, Lin X, Luo J, Liu C, Mor G, Liao A. Interleukin-10: a novel metabolic inducer of macrophage differentiation and subsequently contributing to improved pregnancy outcomes of mice by orchestrating oxidative phosphorylation metabolism. Biol Reprod. 2024 Jul 12;111(1):76-91

6. Tian Q, Yin Y, Tian Y, Wang Y, Wang YF, Fukunaga R, Fujii T, Liao AH, Li L, Zhang W, He X, Xiang W, Zhou LQ. Chromatin Modifier EP400 Regulates Oocyte Quality and Zygotic Genome Activation in Mice. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Mar 17:e2308018.

7. Maxwell A, Adzibolosu N, Hu A, You Y, Stemmer PM, Ruden DM, Petriello MC, Sadagurski M, Debarba LK, Koshko L, Ramadoss J, Nguyen AT, Richards D, Liao A, Mor G, Ding J. Intrinsic sexual dimorphism in the placenta determines the differential response to benzene exposure. iScience. 2023;26(4):106287.

8. You Y, Grasso E, Alvero A, Condon J, Dimova T, Hu A, Ding J, Alexandrova M, Manchorova D, Dimitrova V, Liao A, Mor G. Twist1-IRF9 Interaction Is Necessary for IFN-Stimulated Gene Anti-Zika Viral Infection. J Immunol. 2023;210(12):1899-1912.

9. Liu C, Lu S, Liu S, Dong C, Chen Y, Xiao L, Zong Y, Zhang H, Liao A. 11.4 T ultra-high static magnetic field has no effect on morphology but induces upregulation of TNF signaling pathway based on transcriptome analysis in zebrafish embryos. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Apr 15;255:114754.

Mentoring (Since 2006)

• Total 15 doctoral and 19 postgraduate students were mentored in China or abroad. Among them, 8, as Ph.D. candidates, were received the official overseas grant from the China Scholarship Council, and went to Ghent University in Belgium (3 persons), Yale University (1 person), Wayne State University (1 person), Jena University in Germany (1 person), Copenhagen University in Denmark (1 person), and Helsinki University in Finland (1 person).

Other Information

Dr. Liao's CV