Liya Xu, PhD

Dr. Liya Xu is a research ophthalmologist and ocular cancer investigator whose research focuses on developing liquid biopsy and multi-omics approaches to improve the diagnosis, risk stratification, and biological understanding of ocular malignancies. Her laboratory uses aqueous humor as a tumor-proximal source of molecular information and integrates genomic, epigenomic, fragmentomic, proteomic, and extracellular vesicle analyses to characterize tumor biology and disease evolution.

Her research spans both pediatric and adult ocular cancers, with a particular focus on retinoblastoma and uveal melanoma. In retinoblastoma, her work seeks to define genomic trajectories of tumor evolution and develop minimally invasive approaches for molecular characterization and clinical risk assessment. In uveal melanoma, her laboratory investigates the molecular features associated with early dissemination and metastatic risk by integrating tumor, aqueous humor, and circulating blood-based biomarkers.

A central goal of her research program is to establish liquid biopsy as a high-resolution molecular sensor of ocular and systemic disease, translating multi-omic discoveries into clinically useful biomarkers and precision tools for ocular oncology.

• Knight Templar Eye Foundation (KTEF): Pediatric Ophthalmology Career-Starter Research Grant, 2021
   – 2023
• The Saban Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: Research Career Development Award (RCDA), 2022
   – 2024
• University of Southern California: Dean’s Pilot Research Award, 2024
   – 2025
• University of Southern California: Wright Foundation, 2025
   – 2026

• Dissecting Inter-Compartmental Tumor-Host Communication Driving Early Dissemination in Uveal Melanoma.
  NIH · R01CA311805 · May 5, 2026 – Apr 1, 2031 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Establishing Cutoff for Minimal Residual Intraocular Disease in Retinoblastoma Using Extracellular Vesicles From Aqueous Humor Liquid Biopsy
  DoD · Aug 1, 2025 – Jul 31, 2028 · Role: Principle Investigator
• Development of a Novel Aqueous Humor-Based Multiplex Assay for Uveal Melanoma Metastatic Risk Prediction
  NIH · R41CA291243 · Sep 5, 2024 – Aug 31, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator

• Ocular Oncology
• Liquid Biopsy
• Cancer Genomics
• Precision Oncology
• Multi-Omics

• Berry, Jesse
• Cobrinik, David
• Jubran, Rima
• Belson, Paula
• Feng, Zhao xun
• Nagiel, Aaron