Dr. Liao is a surgeon-scientist with research and clinical focus on craniofacial biology. Dr. Liao is the Director of the Cleft and Craniofacial Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and Boston Shriners Hospital. His laboratory at the Center for Regenerative Medicine investigates fundamental questions in neural crest biology, gene regulatory networks, molecular basis of morphogenesis, and how craniofacial malformations occur when these basic processes go awry. The Liao laboratory utilizes iPSC, zebrafish, and mouse models to investigate human gene variants implicated in cleft and craniofacial malformations. They hope to translate fundamental advances to clinical impact, through prenatal genetic predictions and small molecule therapies.