The University of Pittsburgh said the late researcher Bing Liu had been studying the cellular mechanisms of the coronavirus.
The University of Pittsburgh said Bing Liu, a 37-year-old research assistant professor at its computational and systems biology department, had been “on the verge of making very significant findings” into the virus before his death from multiple gunshot wounds.
According to local newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Liu was at his home in western Pennsylvania at around noon on Saturday when he was shot by Hao Gu, 46, who then killed himself.
Local police said the incident “was the result of a lengthy dispute regarding an intimate partner”. Since both men were not US citizens, the investigation was handed to federal authorities to review.
The university said Liu had been part of a team modelling various biological systems in a bid to understand the cellular mechanisms of the new coronavirus, as well as the cellular basis of health complications found in Covid-19 patients. “He was patient, intelligent and extremely mature. We will miss him very much,” it said.
“Dr Bing Liu was an outstanding researcher, who has earned the respect and appreciation of many colleagues in the field, and made unique contributions to science,” it said.
“We will make an effort to complete what he started in an effort to pay homage to his scientific excellence. His loss will be felt throughout the entire scientific community.”
According to a Ross Township Police Department statement on Tuesday: “We have found zero evidence that this tragic event has anything to do with employment at the University of Pittsburgh, any work being conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and the current health crisis affecting the United States and the world.”
Liu was a leader of the university’s Bahar Lab research into the immune system, modelling complex processes such as responses to radiation, radiation therapy and immune signalling.
According to his online resume, before joining the university in 2014 he worked with Edmund Clarke, winner of the prestigious Turing Award in computer science, as a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University.
Liu earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in computer science at the National University of Singapore. He co-authored more than 30 papers and reports, and wrote a book on the computational modelling of biological pathways in 2012.
His latest work, published on April 26, included a model framework for analysing systems biology models to better understand how diseases work, including for cardiac disorders, radiation diseases and prostate cancer.
Liu is survived by his wife, who was not at home during the shooting. Both of his parents lived in China, according to his department head.
“The University of Pittsburgh is deeply saddened by the tragic death of Bing Liu, a prolific researcher and admired colleague at Pitt,” it said in a statement.
“The university extends our deepest sympathies to Liu’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.”
David Hsu, who supervised Liu’s doctorate at the National University of Singapore, described his passing as “an unspeakable shock and tragedy”.
Liu was a trained computer scientist, but his expertise later developed in both computer science and biology, and he applied mathematical and computational tools to model biological systems, Hsu said.
“He is a bright researcher and a warm soul,” Hsu said. “I find it hard to accept that such an exceptional human being departed this way.”
