He Nucleus Xu
Research Assistant Professor of Radiology
Technical Director, Britton Chance Laboratory of Redox Imaging, Johnson Research Foundation, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania
Department: Radiology
Contact information
168A John Morgan Bldg, 3620 Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-746-2075
Email:
hexu2@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
hexu2@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Education:
BS (Physics)
Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China, 1983.
MS (Optics)
Anhui Optics and Fine Mechanics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China, 1988.
MS (Chemistry)
Drexel University, 1993.
PhD (Chemistry)
Drexel University, 1999.
BS (Physics)
Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China, 1983.
MS (Optics)
Anhui Optics and Fine Mechanics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China, 1988.
MS (Chemistry)
Drexel University, 1993.
PhD (Chemistry)
Drexel University, 1999.
Post-Graduate Training
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Radiology, 2010-2014.
Permanent linkPostdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Radiology, 2010-2014.
Description of Research Expertise
1. Optical imaging of endogenous and/or exogenous fluorescence for the following research interests:1) Identification of optical redox imaging biomarkers for cancer diagnosis/prognosis (cell culture, tissue, frozen clinical biopsies);
2) Identification of optical redox imaging biomarkers for aging and age-associated neurodegenerative diseases (cell culture, tissue, clinical biopsies, FFPE sections);
3) Imaging biomarkers for prematurity-associated bronchopulmonary dysplasia endotypes;
4) Development of optical metabolic imaging methods for detecting therapeutic effects for breast cancer (cell culture & tissue);
5) Development of label-free optical imaging biomarkers from FFPE sections for neurodegenerative diseases;
2. Development of immunotherapy and biomarkers for breast cancer:
1) Augmenting combination therapy and CAR T therapy efficacy;
2) Identification of the metabolic signatures of PBMC biomarkers for predicting therapeutic response and prognosis;
Selected Publications
H.N. Xu*, J. Kollmar, J. Xu, A. Shestov, K. Gabunia, T. Fan, D. Song, A. Song, F. Liu, M. Wannousse, J. Scholler, C.H. June, R. O’Connor, J.A. Baur, J. Tchou: Harnessing immune metabolism to enhance CAR T therapy and guide biomarker discovery for ICI-based immunotherapy in breast cancer. Int. Society of Oxygen Transport in Tissues (ISOTT) 2025 Notes: * Plenary talk.Julia Tchou, Anupma Nayak, He N. Xu, Jack Kollmar, Evans Smith, M. Zane Mazur, Luke Keele, Amy Clark, Neil Taunk, and Joe Fraietta: A single-dose neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus a single subablative tumor targeting radiotherapy fraction (7 Gy) elicits anti-tumor response and increases stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in triple negative breast cancer: a phase 1b/2 study. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2025.
Irene Georgakoudi, Melissa C. Skala, Kyle P. Quinn, Chiara Stringari, Janet E. Sorrells, Ahmed A. Heikal, Lin Z. Li, He N. Xu, Sixian You, Alex J. Walsh, Rupsa Datta, Kayvan Samimi, Amani A. Gillette, Kevin W. Eliceiri, consensus co-authors: Consensus guidelines for cellular label-free optical metabolic imaging: ensuring accuracy and reproducibility in metabolic profiling. J Biomed Opt 2025.
He N. Xu*, Daniel Ohm, Winifred Trotman, David Irwin: Label-free optical imaging of postmortem human brain FFPE sections for deep pathological characterization of neurodegenerative tauopathies. SPIE 2025 Notes: * Invited talk, presenter.
Kollmar, J.; Xu, J.; Gonzalves, D.; Baur, J.A.; Li, L.Z.; Tchou, J.; Xu, H.N.*: Differential Mitochondrial Redox Responses to the Inhibition of NAD+ Salvage Pathway of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells. Cancers 17(1): 7, Dec 2024 Notes: DOI: 10.3390/cancers17010007.
Podsednik A, Xu HN, Li LZ: Passage dependence of NADH redox status and reactive oxygen species level in vitro in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines with different invasiveness. Translational Breast Cancer Research 5: 27, Oct 2024 Notes: DOI: 10.21037/tbcr-24-36.
Leek C, Cantu A, Sonti S, Gutierrez MC, Eldredge L, Sajti E, Xu HN, Lingappan K: Role of sex as a biological variable in neonatal alveolar macrophages. Redox biology 75: 103296, Sept 2024 Notes: DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103296.
Peng A, Xu HN, Moon L, Zhang P, Li LZ: Quantitative Optical Redox Imaging of Melanoma Xenografts with Different Metastatic Potentials. Cancers 16(9): 1669, Apr 2024 Notes: DOI: 10.3390/cancers16091669.
Xu HN*^, Gonzalves D, Hoffman JH, Baur JA, Li LZ, Jensen EA^: Use of Optical Redox Imaging to Quantify Alveolar Macrophage Redox State in Infants: Proof of Concept Experiments in a Murine Model and Human Tracheal Aspirates Samples. Antioxidants 13(5): 546, Apr 2024 Notes: DOI: 10.3390/antiox13050546. *Corresponding author; ^equal contribution.
Krithika Lingappan, Shilpa Sonti, Abiud Cantu, Connor leek, Manuel Cantu Gutierrez, He N. Xu: Tissue-resident alveolar macrophages drive sex-specific differences in neonatal lungs. Pediatric Academic Societies 2024.