Dr. Wenbin Liang is a Scientist and Director of the Cardiovascular Electrophysiology Laboratory at University of Ottawa Heart Institute. He is also an Associate Professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Ottawa.
Background
Dr. Liang completed his PhD studies in the Department of Physiology, University of Toronto focusing on the electrophysiology of cardiomyocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells (Advisor: Dr. Peter Backx), and was trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Eduardo Marbàn (Director of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, in Los Angeles) focusing on gene- and cell-based therapies of heart rhythm disorders.
During his Ph.D and postdoctoral training, Dr. Liang was awarded the CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, the US Heart Rhythm Society Postdoctoral Fellowship (ranked #1 in the Committee), and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) Doctoral Research Award.
As an independent investigator, Dr. Liang has received many awards, including CIHR Early Career Investigator Award (Ranked # 2 in Committee, 2019), CCS Young Investigator Award-Runner Up (Ranked #1 in Basic Science, 2019), The Highest Rated Electrophysiology Abstract Award (Canadian Heart Rhythm Society, 2019), HSFC McDonald Scholarship and New Investigator Award (Ranked #1 in Committee, 2017), Early Researcher Award (Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, 2017), and Gordon K. Moe Young Investigator Award (Ranked #1 in Committee, Upstate New York Cardiac Electrophysiology Society, 2015).
Dr. Liang’s current research program has been funded by CIHR, HSFC, and Canada Foundation for Innovation.
Research and clinical interests
Dr. Liang’s research is focused on mechanistic studies of arrhythmogenic heart disease, with the hope of developing novel therapies for cardiac arrhythmias. Techniques used include somatic gene transfer, stem cells, cellular electrophysiology, organ culture, and whole-animal studies, as well as cellular and molecular biology techniques.
Publications
List of publications on Google Scholar.
Selected publications:
- Wang J, Xia Y, Lu A, Wang H, Davis DR, Liu P, Beanlands RS, Liang W.
Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of β-catenin protects mouse hearts from ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction.
Scientific Reports, 2021;11(1):17722.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97176-9 - Lu A, Chu C, Xia Y, Wang J, Davis DR, Liang W.
Inhibition of β-catenin Increases Voltage-gated Na+ Current in Brugada Syndrome Cardiomyocytes.
Preprint available at SSRN 3815857:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3815857 - Gharibeh L, Yamak A, Whitcomb J, Lu A, Joyal M, Komati H, Liang W, Fiset C, Nemer M.
GATA6 is a regulator of sinus node development and heart rhythm.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118(1):e2007322118
https://www.pnas.org/content/118/1/e2007322118.long - Lu A, Kamkar M, Chu C, Wang J, Gaudet K, Chen Y, Lin L, Liu W, Marbán E, Liang W. Direct and Indirect Suppression of Scn5a Gene Expression Mediates Cardiac Na+ Channel Inhibition by Wnt Signalling.
Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 2020;36(4):564-576
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32046907 - Liang W, Han P, Kim EH, Mak J, Zhang R, Torrente AG, Goldhaber JI, Marbán E, Cho HC.
Canonical Wnt signaling promotes pacemaker cell specification of cardiac mesodermal cells derived from mouse and human embryonic stem cells.
Stem Cells, 2020:38(3):352-368.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31648393 - Lin H, Naito K, Oh Y, Farber G, Kanaan G, Valaperti A, Dawood F, Zhang L, Li G, Smyth D, Moon M, Liu Y, Liang W, Rotstein B, Philpott D, Kim KH, Harper ME, Liu P.
Innate immune Nod1/RIP2 signaling is essential for cardiac hypertrophy, but requires mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) for signal transductions and energy balance.
Circulation, 2020;142(23):2240-2258
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.041213 - Lu A, Chu C, Mulvihill E, Wang R, Liang W.
ATP-sensitive K+ channels and mitochondrial permeability transition pore mediate effects of hydrogen sulfide on cytosolic Ca2+ homeostasis and insulin secretion in β-cells.
Pflugers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, 2019; 471:1551-1564.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00424-019-02325-9 - Liang W, Lu A, Davis DR.
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Treatment of Acquired Heart Block: The Battle for Tomorrow Has Begun!
Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, 2017;10:e005331.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28500180 - Wolf AJ, Reyes CN, Liang W, Becker C, Shimada K, Wheeler ML, Cho HC, Popescu NI, Coggeshall KM, Arditi M, Underhill DM.
Hexokinase Is an Innate Immune Receptor for the Detection of Bacterial Peptidoglycan.
Cell, 2016;166:624-36. [cover article]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27374331 - Kapoor N, Liang W (co-first authors), Marbán E and Cho HC.
Direct conversion of quiescent cardiomyocytes to pacemaker cells by expression of Tbx18.
Nature Biotechnology, 2013;31:54-62
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23242162