Su Xu, PhD

I received my Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1995 and my postdoctoral training in NIH’s Laboratory of Diagnostic Radiology Research (1996-1998). I was an instructor in the Department of Medical Physics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, before serving as a Research Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health from 2003-2009. I was appointed an Assistant Professor in the  Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine in 2009 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014.

My research interests are in the areas of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) technologies and applications with a focus on animal models translatable to human central nervous system diseases. 

Among  my most significant research activities and achievements is my research in MRI including diffusion-weighted MRI, three-dimensional in vivo MR microimaging,functional MRI,functional MRS,  in vivo¹⁹F MRI, superparamagnetic iron nanoparticle enhanced high resolution MRI, magnetization-transfer-enhanced MRI, radiofrequency coil construction, as well as in vivo high resolution localized MR spectroscopy techniques on ¹H, ³¹P, and ¹³C. Over the course of my career, I have gained valuable knowledge and expertise in these areas. I also serve as the manager of the small animal in vivo imaging core (C-TRIM) operations. At C-TRIM, I maintain state-of-the-art technology to facilitate the research projects of investigators. I also strive to push the limits of technology and have pioneered several critical in vivo MR methods. I have contributed to the success of imaging research on campus by leading teams and developing non-invasive methods to measure physiology and understand biology.

in vivo magnetic resonance imaging, in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy, central nervous system diseases

Xu S., Chuo J., Shi D., Roys S., Fiskum G., Gullapalli R. (2011) Early microstructural and metabolic changes following controlled cortical impact injury in rat: a magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy study. J Neurotrauma. 28:2091-2102. PMID: 21761962

Raufman J-P, Xu S., Cheng K., Khurana S., Johnson D., Shao C., Kane M., Shi D., Gullapalli R., Polli J.E. (2011) In vivo magnetic resonance imaging to detect biliary excretion of 19F-labeled drug in mice. Drug Metab Dispos. 39:736-739. PMID: 21270105

Xu S., Ji Y., Chen X., Yang Y., Gullapalli R.P., Masri R. (2012)  In vivo high-resolution localized ¹H MR spectroscopy in the awake rat brain at 7 T. Magn Reson Med. 69(4):937-43. PMID: 22570299

Xu S., Waddell J., Zhu W., Shi D., Marshall A.D., McKenna M.C., Gullapalli R.P. (2015) In vivo longitudinal proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy on neonatal hypoxic-ischemic rat brain injury – neuroprotective effects of acetyl-L-carnitine. Magn Reson Med. 74:1530-1542. PMID: 25461739