Q&A with Dr. Ying Liu: Identifying Early Biological Warning Signs of Vision Loss
January 12, 2026Ying Liu, MD, PhD, a research associate faculty at Johns Hopkins University, is researching new ways to detect retinal degeneration earlier.
Vision loss changes how people live, how independent they feel, and how they connect with the world. For Ying Liu, MD, PhD, her ophthalmology rotation in medical school showed her these realities and spurred her to study eye diseases.
Now a research associate faculty at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Liu is researching retinal degeneration, eye diseases that gradually damage the retina, the light-sensing layer at the back of the eye, causing vision loss and blindness. She received a 2025 PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Translational Medicine for her work to develop new ways to detect disease earlier.
Her lab grows patient-derived stem cells into mini retinas in a dish to mimic disease. They then study tiny particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the diseased retinas. These EVs can act like tiny packages, carrying early warning signs and helping to understand how retina cells communicate during disease.
“To me, this project isn’t just a scientific problem,” Liu said. “It’s about protecting one of the most precious ways people experience their world, our ability to see.”
Watch this video to learn more about Liu and her research.
