Wu Lab

About

Our lab's research is focused on the development and translation of new technologies for Quantitative MRI-Guided Therapy, which includes detection/characterization, treatment planning, interventional guidance, and treatment monitoring of cancer and metabolic diseases.

Research Directions and Specific Projects

Quantitative Prostate MRI

Quantitative T₂ and ADC mapping in prostate cancer
High-resolution diffusion-weighted MRI
Microstructural MRI
Integrated diagnostics for prostate cancer (collaboration with Urology and Pathology)

Quantitative Liver and Abdominal MRI

Free-breathing quantitative MRI of liver fat fraction and R₂*
MRI and MRE of pediatric liver disease (collaboration with Pediatrics)
Artificial intelligence for body composition analysis

Quantitative Placenta MRI

Free-breathing quantitative MRI of placental R₂* (collaboration with Pediatrics and Ob/Gyn)

MRI-Guided Interventions

Real-time non-Cartesian MRI
Real-time MR temperature mapping
MRI-guided targeted biopsy and focal ablation
Artificial intelligence for procedural guidance
MRI-compatible robotic systems (collaboration with MAC lab)
Precision MRI-guided nano-theranostics (collaboration with Zink lab

News

National Cancer Institute Award - UCLA Newsroom | The Cancer Letter
UCLA Innovation Fund Therapeutics Award - UCLA Newsroom

Meet Our Team

Principal Investigator

Holden Wu, PhD

Professor of Radiology, Bioengineering, and Biomedical Physics IDP

Project Scientists

Shu-Fu Shih, PhD

Assistant Research Scientist

Graduate Students

Qing Dai

Graduate Student Researcher

Timoteo Delgado-Esbenshade

Graduate Student Researcher

Wenqi Zhou

Graduate Student Researcher

Elif Aygun

Graduate Student Researcher

Wenwen Zhang

Graduate Student Researcher

Administrative Staff

Heather Wilbur

Administrative Assistant

Stephanie Peterson

Administrative Assistant

Alumni

Tess Armstrong, PhD (PhD student and postdoc, 2013-2019; subsequently at ViewRay)
Isabel Dregely, PhD (Postdoc, 2013-2015; subsequently at King's College London)
Novena Rangwala, PhD (Postdoc, 2013-2016, jointly advised with Dr. Kyung Sung; subsequently at GE Healthcare)
Samantha Mikaiel, MS. (Graduate student, 2014-2018; subsequently at Vanguard)
Xinzhou Li, PhD (PhD student and postdoc, 2015-2022; subsequently at Siemens Healthineers)
Le Zhang, PhD (Postdoc, 2017-2020, subsequently at Mayo Clinic)
Nyasha Maforo, PhD (PhD student, 2018-2022, jointly advised with Dr. Dan Ennis; subsequently at University of Pennsylvania)
Zhaohuan Zhang, PhD (PhD student, 2016-2023)
Ashmita Deb, MS (Graduate student, 2022-2023; subsequently at Cleveland Clinic)
Sevgi Kafali, PhD (PhD student, 2018-2024; subsequently at Technical University Munich)
M. Wasil Wahi-Anwar, BS (Graduate student, 2014)
Matthew Quesada (undergraduate student, Fall 2014)
Chengyang Song, BS (Visiting graduate student, Fall 2015)
Tongxin Chen (Visiting undergraduate student, Summer 2016)
Yu Wang (Visiting undergraduate student, Summer 2017)
Cass Wong, BS (Undergraduate student, 2017)
Michael Lauria, BS (Lab rotation, Fall 2017)
Chang Gao, BS (Lab rotation, Fall 2017)
Arash Safavi, MS (Staff research associate, 2017-2018)
Benjamin Azul, BS (Staff research associate, 2018-2019)
Jacob Story, BS (Medical student, 2020-2022)
Kelsey Kuwahara, BS (Undergraduate student, 2020-2022)
Hannah Parish, BS (Medical student, 2021-2022)
Alexandra Artura, BS (Undergraduate student, 2021-2022)
Tristan Kelly, BS (Undergraduate student, 2021-2023)
Ryan Andosca, MS (Lab rotation, Spring 2022)
Jiaqi Zhou (Remote undergraduate student, Summer 2022)
Justin Kaufman (Undergraduate student, 2022-2023)

We are looking for new postdocs and graduate students!