The Beauty The World Has To Offer

Xiao Xu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, joined UT Southwestern in 2022 from Washington University in St. Louis, where he served as an expert in optical imaging.

He grew up in China as a curious boy. “I just always wanted to know how things work,” he says excitedly. In his family, education is strongly valued, and he follows a long line of successful parents and siblings: his father was in the military and his sister is an attorney in Houston, Texas. His elder brother, who worked at the prestigious China Institute of Atomic Energy, introduced Dr. Xu to engineering.

A physics major in college, Dr. Xu took a class on optics and immersed himself in the subject right away. While the process of developing and using the instruments can be lengthy, Dr. Xu says, “When you run the experiments, you see all the beauty the world has to offer. Sometimes you don’t appreciate all the things you learn in class, but then you start seeing it show up in the real world and it’s amazing.” Amazing is an understatement when you consider the beautiful images Dr. Xu produces and studies in his research.

Dr. Xu’s research primarily focuses on seeing deeper and better inside the human body with optical and ultrasonic methods. Biological tissue is highly diffusive, such that red light can penetrate the human palm but cannot be used to image the tissue structure or functions beneath the skin. To break this diffusion limit, Dr. Xu and his colleagues developed a hybrid technology using optics and ultrasound to shape the wavefront of a laser beam, enabling optical imaging inside tissue at unprecedented depths. And he is deeply passionate about how he can use light for medical breakthroughs. “I have a friend going through cancer treatment, but he is not responding well to chemotherapy,” he says. “Using targeted radiation therapy, doctors can precisely target and treat the tumor with minimal damage to the healthy tissue, of which optical methods can be very helpful.”

An avid hiker and gardener, Dr. Xu uses this quiet time to reflect on his research and what motivates him to continue searching for cures. “I like to DIY,” he says with a chuckle. “During the pandemic, I built my own raised garden beds, the fence around those beds, and started a vegetable garden. It was a great way to keep myself close to the essence of life and appreciate the value of hard work. This is similar to my approach to science. I enjoy making discoveries.”

While he has only lived in Dallas for a few short months, he has already found his way to White Rock Lake and the Dallas Arboretum, “but the Japanese Gardens in Fort Worth are my favorite,” he notes. Most days, one can find Dr. Xu in the Optical lab until late into the evening, enjoying learning and the process of discovery.