Affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Xu is Assistant Professor in Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Director of the Crump Preclinical Imaging Technology Center (CPITC), at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Xu received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Southern California in 2013. During his postdoctoral training with Dr. Harvey Herschman at UCLA, he explored cell metabolism with a particular focus on the role of hexokinase 2 (HK2) in mediating glucose utilization. He optimized [¹⁸F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) microPET imaging in combination with microCT to non-invasively measure HK2 activity in vivo. As Director of CPITC, he has been leading research on developing and integrating in vivo imaging assays to quantitatively assess the functional dynamics of health and disease, and to guide associated therapeutic interventions. His expertise in microPET, micro CT, SPECT, MRI, and optical imaging technologies strongly supports biomedical studies at UCLA and collaborating institutes.