Focusing on evo-devo of caste system and division of labor in social insects. 

Using inter-disciplinary approaches including neurogenetics, pharmacology, comparative genomics and ethology to dissect molecular, cellular and neuronal mechanisms underlying social behaviors in invertebrates.

Aiming to understand the proximate and ultimate causes of animal behaviors.

2001-2005 Beijing Normal University, Bachelor of Science
2005-2011 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS)/Beijing Normal University, Doctor of Philosophy

   

2011.06-2012.11 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, Research assistant
2012.11-2013.05 Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, MD, USA, Postdoc
2013.05-2017.11 University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, Postdoc
2018.03-2020.04 Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Assistant Researcher

(1) Qiye Li#; Mingyue Wang#; Pei Zhang#; Yang Liu#; Qunfei Guo; Yuanzhen Zhu; Tinggang Wen; Xueqin Dai; Xiafang Zhang; Manuel Nagel; Bjarke Hamberg Dethlefsen; Nianxia Xie; Jie Zhao; Wei Jiang; Lei Han; Liang Wu; Wenjiang Zhong; Zhifeng Wang; Xiaoyu Wei; Wei Dai; Longqi Liu; Xun Xu; Haorong Lu; Huanming Yang; Jian Wang; Jacobus J Boomsma; Chuanyu Liu*; Guojie Zhang*; Weiwei Liu*; A single-cell transcriptomic atlas tracking the neural basis of division of labour in an ant superorganism, Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2022, 6(8): 1191-1204

(2) Guo Ding; Qionghua Gao; Jun Chen; Jie Zhao; Guojie Zhang; Weiwei Liu*; Validation of Potential Reference Genes for Real-Time qPCR Analysis in Pharaoh Ant, Monomorium pharaonis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Frontiers in Physiology, 2022, 13(852357)

(3) Weiwei Liu#; Anindya Ganguly#; Jia Huang; Yijin Wang; Jinfei D Ni; Adishthi S Gurav; Morris A Aguilar; Craig Montell*; Neuropeptide F regulates courtship in Drosophila through a male-specific neuronal circuit, eLife, 2019, 8(e49574)

(4) Jinfei D Ni; Adishthi S Gurav; Weiwei Liu; Tyler H Ogunmowo; Hannah Hackbart; Ahmed Elsheikh; Andrew A Verdegaal; Craig Montell*; Differential regulation of the Drosophila sleep homeostat by circadian and arousal inputs, eLife, 2019, 8(e40487).  

(5) Jia Huang#*; Weiwei Liu#; Yi-xiang Qi; Junjie Luo; Craig Montell*; Neuromodulation of courtship drive through tyramine-responsive neurons in the Drosophila brain, Current Biology, 2016, 26(17): 2246-2256

(6) Weiwei Liu#; Xinhua Liang#; Jianxian Gong; Zhen Yang; Yao-Hua Zhang; Jian-Xu Zhang; Yi Rao*; Social regulation of aggression bypheromonal activation of Or65a olfactory neurons in Drosophila, Nature Neuroscience, 2011, 14(7): 896-U119.

• Neurogenetics of instinct behavior
• Functional genomics of superorganism
• Evo-devo of animal society