LT

University of Arizona

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Hello! I’m LT (Tuo Liu), Ph.D., an environmental health scientist with expertise in omics technologies, statistical analysis, and occupational health research. I recently earned my Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences, with a minor in Biostatistics, from the University of Arizona.

My research bridges environmental/occupational exposure, statistical analsis, and public health practice. I focus on applying metabolomics and proteomics to better understand how environmental and occupational exposures impact vulnerable populations, particularly frontline and essential workers such as firefighters and healthcare professionals.

Currently, I am a Postdoc-research associate at the department of Population and Public Health Science at USC where I evaluate the metabolic profiles by bone mineral density across life span in Latino populations.

For the past 4 years, I worked as a Research Associate in the Burgess Lab and the Furlong Lab, where I develop and implement statistical pipelines for biomarker discovery, metabolic & proteomic profiling, and health risk evaluation for the Firefighter Cancer Cohort Study (FFCCS) and the Arizona Healthcare, Emergency Response, and Other Essential Workers Surveillance (AZ HEROES) Study.

My research portfolio includes:

  • Omics Applications: Conducting untargeted and targeted metabolomics and proteomics analyses to uncover biological mechanisms linked to environmental exposures & health conditions.
  • Statistical Expertise: Designing and applying standard statistical method, multilevel modeling/longitudinal data analysis, and machine learning methods to large-scale epidemiological and Omics datasets.
  • Public Health Impact: Generating actionable insights into occupational risks and advancing strategies to protect high-risk populations.

Beyond research, I am passionate about translating complex scientific findings into accessible knowledge that informs public health policies and interventions. I also create interactive tools and visualizations to help bridge the gap between data science and community health practice.

In all my work, I am driven by the goal of advancing health equity, improving occupational health, and innovating at the intersection of environmental exposures, data science, and public health.

news

Apr 15, 2025 I am going to join the Center for Translational Exposomics Research (CTER) on Environmental Health at USC on June 15th :sparkles: :smile: !
Apr 07, 2025 Dissertation defense passed :smile: !

selected publications

  1. Metabolomics
    Differential metabolic profiles by Hispanic ethnicity among male Tucson firefighters
    Tuo Liu, Melissa A. Furlong, Justin M Snider, and 10 more authors
    Metabolomics, 2025
  2. SciRep
    Evaluating changes in firefighter urinary metabolomes after structural fires: an untargeted, high resolution approach
    Melissa A Furlong, Tuo Liu, Justin M Snider, and 12 more authors
    Scientific Reports, 2023