Jufen Liu

Assistant Professor
liujufen@pku.edu.cn
Xueyuan Road 38, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Peking University

Personal profile

Liu Jufen, Ph.D., Assistant professor (Tenure Track) and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of reproductive health, National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, Peking University; visiting scholar of University of Southern California (2015-2016) and University of Toyama (2013). I participated in more than 10 projects including National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research & Development Programs, Major Project of the National Social Science Fund of China and other international cooperation projects. My team carried out systematic epidemiological research on major reproductive health problems faced by China, such as birth defects and disabilities, besides the short-term impact of folic acid and other nutrients supplementation on pregnancy outcome, evaluation of supplementation effect and population nutritional status, we also paid more attention to long-term health effect of supplementation, including but not limited to metabolic disease in later life. Based on our profound and plentiful research results, more than 100 scientific research papers, among which 40 papers are of the first author or corresponding author, have been published in International Journal of Epidemiology, British Journal of Nutrition, Chinese Journal of Epidemiology and other distinguished international peer-reviewed journals. I won the second prize of Science and Technology Award of Colleges and Universities (the ninth), the second prize of Science and Technology Award of Chinese Preventive Medicine Association (the sixth), and the first prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Outstanding Achievements in Scientific Research of Colleges and Universities (Science and Technology) (the fourteenth).

I served as Member of Health Technology Evaluation and Economic Policy Group of Birth Defect Prevention and Control Professional Committee of Chinese Preventive Medicine Association; Member of Perinatal and Metabolic Committee of China Maternal and Child Health Association; Member of the Joint Education Committee of Family, School and Society of China Family Education Society; Member of Health Big Data Branch of Chinese Society of Sexuality; Expert from the Technical Guidance Group of the Pilot Work of the National Comprehensive Experimental Zone for Disability Prevention, and Expert from the Disability Prevention and Nursing Publicity and Education Group; Correspondent of Chinese Journal of preventive medicine; Expert reviewer of The Journal of Practical Medicine; Bilingual editor of Chinese Journal of Reproductive Health. I also served as peer reviewer of bulletin of the World Health Organization, Pediatrics, American Journal of public health, BMJ Open, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Social Psychology and Psychological Epidemiology and other journals.

I teach postgraduate course Frontier of Population Health Science, and participate in Perinatal and Reproductive epidemiology, Epidemiology and Precision Medicine. My undergraduate courses include Social Epidemiology and Its Application, Introduction to Global Perspectives on Women and Health Across the Lifecourse, and Demography of Health.

Main research directions

1. Interdisciplinary Research and Translational Medicine on Reproductive Health

2. Perinatal Nutrition and Epidemiology

3. Epidemiology of Birth defects and Disability

Representative scientific research projects

1. Principal investigator: National Natural Science Foundation of China (81202265) “Relationship on haplotypes of COMT/MTHFR and the levels of corresponding protein with the risk of neural tube defects”. 2013.1.1-2015.12.31.

2. Principal investigator: Nutrition Research Fund of China Nutrition Society (CNS-ZD2020-115) “The influence of multiple vitamin supplements on gestational diabetes mellitus and its immune mechanism”, 2021.1.1-2022.12.31.

3. Key Participant: Major Project of the National Social Science Fund of China (21 & ZD187) “Research on Disability Prevention Strategy and Application Under the Background of Population Aging”, 2022.1.1-2025.12.31

4. Key Participant: National Key Research and Development Programs, Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2021YFC2701101), Systematic Identification of Pathogenic Mutations of Major Birth Defects, 2021.12-2024.11

5. Principal investigator: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities: Discipline Construction Project of Public Health and Preventive Medicine of Peking University, Perinatal Nutrition and Epidemiology: BMU 2021YJ034. 2021.6-2021.11

6. Principal investigator: Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities: Discipline Construction Project of Public Health and Preventive Medicine of Peking University (BMU2020XY010), Perinatal Nutrition and Epidemiology: 2020.6-2020.11

7. Principal investigator: Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation: “Research on Beijing Disabled Persons' Early Retirement Policy”, 2016.12.1-2017.6.30.

8. Principal investigator: Natural Resources Conservation Association: Sub-project of proposals for Total Coal Consumption Control Programs and Policy Research: “Study on Environmental Pollution and Fertility Damage and Population Unhealthy Outcomes”, 2015.6.1-2015.12.30.

9. Principal investigator: Peking University Health Science Center Young Teacher Startup Grant (BMU20100089) “Case-control study on congenital cytomegalovirus infection and risk of neural tube defects”, 2011.1.1-2012.12.31.

10. Principal investigator: School of Public Health Youth Talents Support Program: “Study on the relationship between microRNAs and their target gene regulation, MAPKs signal transduction pathway and neural tube defects”, 2015.11.1-2016.12.31.

10 representative papers

1. Liu J, Li Z, Ye R, Ren A, Liu J. Folic acid supplementation and risk for congenital limb reduction defects in China. Int J Epidemiol. 2019, Dec 1;48(6):2010-2017. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyz130. (PMID: 31257442)

2. Liu J, Li Z*, Ye R*, Liu J, Ren A. Folic acid supplementation and risk for foetal abdominal wall defects in China: Results from a large population-based intervention cohort study. Br J Nutr. 2021 Nov 28;126(10):1558-1563. doi: 10.1017/S0007114521000337.(PMID: 33494841).

3. Liu J, Li Z, Ye R, Ren A, Liu J. Folic acid supplementation and risk for congenital hydrocephalus in China. Public Health Nutr. 2021 Sep;24(13):4238-4244. doi: 10.1017/S136898002100029X. (PMID: 33494847).

4. Du Y, Xia S, Zhang J, Zhang L, Liu J*, Plasma folate deficiency increases the risk for abnormal blood pressure in Chinese women of childbearing age. Nutr Res Available online 27 December 2021.

5. Xia S, Liu J*, Zhang J, Du Y, Chen J, Jin L, Wang L, Zhang X, Ren A. Association between cooking fuel and folate insufficiency among pregnant women in Northern China. Int J Environ Health Res. 2021 Dec 16:1-11. doi: 10.1080/09603123.2021.2014419. Epub ahead of print. (PMID: 34915782).

6. Liu J, Zhang Y, Zhang L, Wang L, Jin L, Greene NDE, Li Z, Ren A. Orofacial Clefts in High Prevalence Area of Birth Defects - Five Counties, Shanxi Province, China, 2000-2020. China CDC Wkly. 2021 Sep 10;3(37):773-777. doi: 10.46234/ccdcw2021.192. (PMID: 34594988)

7. Liu J, Li Z, Ye R, Liu J, Ren A. Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and risk for parent-reported asthma in children at 4–6 years of age. ERJ Open Res. 2020 Apr 6;6(1):00250-2019.( PMID: 32280668)

8. Liu J, Li Z, Ye R, Ren A, Liu J. Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and sex difference in prevention of neural tube defects and its’ subtype in China: Results from a large prospective cohort study. Nutr J. 2018 Dec 12;17(1):115. doi: 10.1186/s12937-018-0421-3.( PMID: 30541549)

9. Liu J, Xie J, Li Z, Greene NDE, Ren A. Sex differences in the prevalence of neural tube defects and preventive effects of folic acid (FA) supplementation among five counties in northern China: results from a population-based birth defect surveillance programme. BMJ Open. 2018 Nov 8;8(11):e022565. (PMID: 30413501)

10. Liu J, Zhang L, Li Z, Jin L, Zhang Y,Ye R,Liu J, Ren A. Prevalence and trend of neural tube defects in five counties in Shanxi province of Northern China, 2000 to 2014. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2016 Apr;106(4):267-74. doi: 10.1002/bdra.23486. (PMID: 26879384)