Prof. Liu’s research interests are at the interfaces of microfluidics and robotics. His research group is developing integrated micro/nano devices and systems to target a variety of exciting applications in biology, medicine, and environment. Applications of their recent technologies include point-of-care diagnostics, environmental monitoring, large-scale gene editing, and wearable and implantable sensing, and robotic rehabilitation.

His achievements have been recognized through several awards and honours, including: the elected Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA); Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC Fellow), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME Fellow), and the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME Fellow); Canada Research Chair in Microfluidics and BioMEMS; the Douglas R. Colton Medal for Research Excellence; the Percy Edward Hart Professorship from the University of Toronto; the Christophe Pierre Award for Research Excellence from McGill University; and the Star in Global Health Award from Grand Challenge Canada. His publications have also been recognized by the Outstanding Article Award from Materials Horizons (IF: 15.7), the Highly Cited Article Award from Microsystems & Nanoengineering (IF: 8.0), and eight Best Paper Awards at major engineering (IEEE & ASME) and biomedical (ASRM & CFAS) conferences.