Integrating 3D pathology with molecular and microenvironment profiling

Dr. Jonathan Liu is a biomedical engineer and professor of pathology whose research focuses on high-resolution optical imaging, computational analysis, and non-destructive slide-free 3D pathology. His laboratory develops technologies for clinical decision support and surgical guidance, with an emphasis on imaging larger tissue volumes while preserving specimens for downstream molecular analysis.

The Liu lab works across the full 3D pathology workflow, including reversible optical clearing and fluorescence labeling, high-throughput open-top light-sheet microscopy, image processing, and AI-based analysis. The group also develops quantitative methods to study 3D tissue architecture, cellular organization, and spatial relationships, with applications that complement molecular profiling, genomics, and radiomics.

Dr. Liu received his B.S.E. from Princeton University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He is a co-founder and board member of Alpenglow Biosciences, which has commercialized non-destructive 3D pathology technologies developed in his laboratory. His work has been supported by the NCI, NIBIB, NIDDK, Department of Defense, NSF, ARPA-H, and several foundations.