Biography and expertise
Biography
Dr Lei (Ben) Liu has completed his PhD on 'Phytochemical and Pharmacological Perspectives of Wheat Grain and Lupin Seed' in 2010. Ben has a wide research interest in biologically active phytochemicals. He has proven expertise in the isolation, identification and quantification of bioactive metabolites.
Dr Liu is a member of SCU's Research Clusters:
- Harvest to Health
Dr Liu's work contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
Research
Ben has studied cereal grain quality, starch digestion, lipidomics, cotton, coffee, macadamia, seaweed, Australian native plants, Chinese traditional medicine and natural pesticides. He is currently studying 'coffee terroir' funded by AgriFutures Australia.
Community engagement
Ben has devoted himself to study health-promoting functional food, nutraceuticals, and environmentally sustainable agriculture. He has worked with several local farmers to identify possible ways to add values to their products. The past research projects were co-funded by NSW TechVouchers program.
Supervision
Dr Liu has supervised 7 PhD and one honours to completion. He is currently supervising 6 PhD and 2 masters students. He would like to train all his students to be careful observers, critical thinkers and more independent researchers.
Teaching
Although Dr Liu is currently employed as a full-time researcher, he also enjoys teaching undergraduate students. Previously, Ben has provided guest lectures to other departments (e.g. 'Genetically Modified Foods' for Food Ecology unit).
Other
Dr Liu currently serves as the school director of higher degree research (HDR) training for Southern Cross Plant Science. This role is dedicated to managing and facilitating the HDR program (PhD and Masters by Thesis).