By: Stephen D’Angelo

“There was a time my roommate asked, ‘Why are you spending so much time in the lab?’ And that really hit me,” said Yanru Liu, a graduate researcher at Cornell’s Weill Institute for Cell & Molecular Biology. “I realized I need to explain my work to more people. It’s not just scientists doing their own thing—what we’re doing matters to everyone.”

Currently, there are 80 graduate students working at the Weill Institute. They, like Liu, play a central role in advancing research—designing experiments, analyzing data, and assisting or even leading discoveries at the cutting edge of their fields. At the same time, they serve as teaching assistants, mentors, and instructors, helping to educate and support undergraduate students across disciplines. At Cornell, Liu has enjoyed wearing these many hats.

Liu’s research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases—like ALS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s—that slowly cause declines in memory, movement, and speech, and can ultimately be fatal. Her work gives her the opportunity to contribute to finding cures that could help millions of people worldwide.

For Liu, her passion for research began as an undergraduate in biochemistry at UCLA.

“I really enjoyed the process of exploring and answering questions while doing research,” she said. “You have a question, you’re trying to find out the answer to it, solve problems, troubleshooting, I want to find out what’s going on and how to tackle it the most effectively. I think that’s like the most fascinating part.”

Along with being drawn to the interesting and impactful work taking place within the Weill Institute’s labs, a sense of community and shared curiosity convinced her that Cornell was the right place to pursue her passion for research, she said.

After earning a four-year undergraduate degree, students like Liu who want to continue in academic will pursue a master’s or PhD. Typically, the next 5-7 years involve focused study, support and original research, and close mentorship with a faculty advisor. Afterward, they often move into careers in academia, industry, government, or nonprofits—using their expertise to drive innovation and solve real-world problems.

Advised by Fenghua Hu, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Liu focuses on a protein called TDP-43 in microglia, a type of brain cell that supports overall brain health by cleaning up damage, responding to injury, and helping maintain balance in the brain’s cellular environment.

In healthy brain cells, the protein TDP-43 acts as a quality control manager. Parked in the cell’s control center—the nucleus—it plays a crucial role in the cell working properly by reading and managing genetic instructions from RNA, the messenger molecules that carry instructions from DNA.

In brain diseases like ALS, Alzheimer’s, and dementia, TDP-43 often ends up outside the nucleus. Locked out of the control room, it cannot do its job. This leads to cells not working properly and can cause them to die.

“And that’s where my research comes in,” Liu said.

Most previous research has looked at how TDP-43 affects neurons, the main cells in the brain that get all the attention. Instead, Liu chose a different approach in focusing on a different group of cells called microglia—the brain’s cleanup and support crew.

“They only make up about 10% of the brain’s cells, but they’re crucial for cleaning up damage, responding to injury, and keeping things running smoothly—especially as we get older,” she said.

In a recent study, Liu removed TDP-43 only from microglia using advanced sequencing techniques and found that without the protein the microglia’s normal functions began to stop performing properly, creating a ripple effect that impacts the brain’s cellular ecosystem.

“Their dysfunction seemed to throw off the whole community—including neurons,” said. “This tells us that microglia have a huge influence on the health of the brain. By studying this relationship, we’re hoping to uncover new insights that could help us get closer to treating—or maybe even preventing—these devastating diseases.”

But finding results through research is not always smooth, and embracing failure is part of discovery.

“It’s frustrating the first moment you see a result that doesn’t make sense—but the data does not lie,” she said. “If the results don’t fit your hypothesis, that means we are working with something novel, and by digging into negative results that could be something interesting too.”

And in many cases, the lab work does not keep to regular business hours.

“It probably doesn’t stop at 5:00 p.m. and sometimes extends to the weekend,” she said. “I’m working because the cells are growing. You can’t be like ‘hey, I’m taking my time off. Please stop growing until Monday.’ That’s not going to happen.”

She’s also learning to lead her own projects. One of them centers on the protein she’s grown attached to.

“I fell in love with TDP-43 the first time I heard about it,” she said. “As I work more and more with it, this protein is so interesting, so there’s more to do.”

Liu’s dedication in the lab and lecture hall earned her the Harry & Samuel Mann Outstanding Graduate Student Award, which provides $20,000 to an advanced doctoral student in molecular biology who excels in both research and communication.

The award will support her as she continues to investigate the ripple effects of TDP-43 loss in microglia. She hopes this research brings scientists closer to understanding the root causes of neurodegenerative diseases—and how to treat them.

While her long-term plans remain open, her passion is clear. What she is sure of is that the work matters—not just to scientists, but to everyone.

“Everyone is trying to put pieces together that become the whole picture, trying to come up with therapies against a disease,” she said. “It means a lot in terms of understanding.”