Xianjing Liu

Machine Learning; Computer Vision; Population studies; Genetics; Epidemiology;

Picture_Xianjing_Liu_full.jpg

Updates: Since November 2023 I started to work as a postdoc, which focuses more on the analysis of brain MRI, genomic and proteomic data.

I am currently doing my PhD at the Biomedical Imaging Group Rotterdam (BIGR) at Erasmus MC under the supervision of Prof. Wiro J. Niessen, Prof. Eppo B. Wolvius, and Dr. Gennady V. Roshchupkin. Earlier, I’ve completed my Bachelors and Masters from Shenzhen University, and gained industrial experience as a R&D engineer at Shenzhen Wisonic Co., Ltd. and a computer vision researcher at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in collaboration with Esquel Group.

I mainly work on the interpretability and confounding problems in deep learning, with applications in population-based genetic and epidemiological studies, by using multimodal data sets (e.g., 2D/3D facial images, brain MRI, genomic data) from the Generation R Study and the Rotterdam Study. I significantly contributed to the craniofacial shape analysis

I have extensive collaborations. For internal collaborations within Erasmus MC, I work closely with Manfred Kayser from department of genetic identification, and Marlies Wakkee from department of dermatology. For external collaborations, I work closely with the school of public health of Harvard University, the school of public health and primary care of Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the school of design of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Please find my publication list for the research output from these collaborations.

I am also active in educational activities. I have supervised 8 master students from Technical University of Delft (TUD) for 9-month thesis or 10-week internship. Feel free to contact me to explore opportunities!

Github
LinkedIn
Google scholar.

news

Dec 10, 2025 Supported by a travel grant, I was invited to give a research talk—“AI for Medicine: Practices and Reflections on Interdisciplinary Collaboration”—at the Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University.
Jul 17, 2025 I have been awarded the Erasmus Trustfonds Grant to support my upcoming two-month research visit to UiT – The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø.
Jul 16, 2025 I delivered an oral presentation for my work on ‘Structural brain pathways linking white matter hyperintensities to pain sensitivity in the Rotterdam study’ in ESMRMB 2025.
Jul 1, 2025 My co-author paper Combined genome-wide association study of facial traits in Europeans increases explained variance and improves prediction is accepted in Nature Communications.
Jun 11, 2025 An Abstract was accepted by 3rd International Symposium on Facial Genetics. I will give an oral presentation about my work of facial genetics in Leuven June 11-13.

selected publications

2025

  1. bioRxiv
    Genetic Insights of Image-Based Traits. Analysis Pipeline for AI-based Phenotyping, Combined-GWAS, and Federated Learning with Application to the Human Face
    Xianjing Liu*, Ziyi Xiong*, Fan Liu, and 4 more authors
    bioRxiv, 2025
  2. NatComm
    Combined genome-wide association study of facial traits in Europeans increases explained variance and improves prediction
    Ziyi Xiong*, Yi Li*, Xianjing Liu, and 8 more authors
    Nature Communications, 2025
  3. MedIA
    AI-based association analysis for medical imaging using latent-space geometric confounder correction
    Xianjing Liu*, Bo Li*, Meike W Vernooij, and 3 more authors
    Medical Image Analysis, 2025
  4. jcms
    Facial asymmetry in syndromic craniosynostosis patients undergoing midface surgery compared to a large general population
    P Rostamzad*, X Liu*, EB Wolvius, and 3 more authors
    Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, 2025

2024

  1. eclinm
    Predicting skin cancer risk from facial images with an explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) based approach. A proof-of-concept study
    Xianjing Liu*, Tobias E Sangers*, Tamar Nijsten, and 5 more authors
    Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine, 2024

2023

  1. humrep
    Association between prenatal alcohol exposure and children’s facial shape. A prospective population-based cohort study
    X Liu, Manfred Kayser, SA Kushner, and 6 more authors
    Human Reproduction, 2023
  2. jcms
    Automated three-dimensional analysis of facial asymmetry in patients with syndromic coronal craniosynostosis, a retrospective study
    Tsun Man Choi*, Xianjing Liu*, Tareq Abdel-Alim, and 4 more authors
    Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, 2023

2021

  1. miccai 2021
    Projection-Wise Disentangling for Fair and Interpretable Representation Learning. Application to 3D Facial Shape Analysis
    Xianjing Liu, Bo Li, Esther E Bron, and 3 more authors
    In:Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI, 2021