As a UKRI-funded research fellow and member of the Willis Group, her first project with the Unit used omics-based strategies to identify adverse outcome pathways that associate with exposure to commonly-encountered air pollutants. Often these studies employed samples produced through human exposures and were performed in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Leicester, RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment and the University of Umeå. Specifically, these projects included dual proteomic and transcriptomic profiling of the host-bacterial response to brake dust exposure, metabolomic urinalysis of responses to aviation-related ultrafine particles and multi-platform characterisation of bronchial responses to wood-smoke exposure.

In January 2023, Liza began a new fellowship, funded by the University of Cambridge, that enables her research to focus on populations that are highly susceptible to particulate exposure. This project will use precision-cut lung slices, cutting edge spatial transcriptomic, CRISPR perturb sequencing and our new air-liquid interface exposure system to explore the differential impacts of metallic non-exhaust emission exposure in healthy individuals and those with cystic fibrosis.

Outside of the laboratory, Liza is a keen member of several public engagement groups, including the Public and Community Involvement, Engagement and Participation committee with colleagues from our joint NIHR HPRUs. In 2018, she participated in the MRC I’m a Scientist web-chat competition where students voted for her to receive £500 funding for public engagement work. This contributed to an interactive exhibition for school children that ran alongside Michael Pinksy’s air pollution pods on Clean Air Day in Manchester. Liza has also participated as a guest for podcasts, radio, BBC news items, television round-tables and Shambala festival.