Research Summary

Youngho Seo, PhD, is a Professor and Director of Nuclear Imaging Physics in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Faculty at the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, Program Member of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Faculty of the UC Berkeley - UCSF Bioengineering Graduate Program, and Physicist Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his bachelor's degree in Physics from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) where he investigated radiation effects on electronics by cosmic ray as his senior thesis research project. 

He completed a master's degree in Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, focusing on space plasma physics. He spent one year at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as a medical physics student before moving to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he obtained his second master's degree and PhD in Physics with the dissertation on a dark matter experiment using dual-phase xenon under the supervision of Professor David B. Cline. He spent another year for postdoctoral training at the same institution in experimental neutrino physics. Dr. Seo joined the UCSF Physics Research Laboratory (PRL) in 2003, and was trained in medical imaging physics under the supervision of Professor Bruce H. Hasegawa before joining the faculty in 2006.

Dr. Seo leads a group of physicists and engineers working in the field of radionuclide and x-ray imaging instrumentation and physics, and directs the UCSF PRL. His primary research focus is to use quantitative SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MR molecular imaging tools for a broad range of research areas from small animal imaging using dedicated animal imaging systems and basic instrumentation development for physics analysis of clinical research data. Visit the UCSF PRL webpage to learn more about the current projects.Dr. Seo also directs the preclinical PET/SPECT/CT/Optical imaging core facility at the UCSF Center for Molecular and Functional Imaging at China Basin.

Research Funding

  • December 16, 2024 - November 30, 2029 - Systematic Testing of a TGFß Targeted Theranostic in Preclinical Cancer , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA297601
  • September 19, 2023 - August 31, 2028 - Radiation Oncology at the Interface of Pediatric Cancer Biology and Data Science , Core Co-Lead and Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: U54CA274516
  • May 1, 2023 - April 30, 2028 - Systematic evaluation of toxicity and therapeutic efficacy in CD46 directed radioligand therapy , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NCI, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA279203
  • January 21, 2022 - December 31, 2026 - [18F]F-AraG as an imaging biomarker for early diagnosis and monitoring of cardiotoxicity related to doxorubicin and immune check point inhibitor therapy , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NHLBI, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL160688
  • April 1, 2023 - March 31, 2024 - High-throughput microPET/CT at UCSF Preclinical Imaging Core , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/OD, Sponsor Award ID: S10OD034286
  • April 1, 2021 - January 31, 2024 - Molecular imaging of CD46 , Interim PI and Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NIBIB, Sponsor Award ID: R21EB029695
  • April 1, 2018 - December 31, 2021 - Energy-independent single photon molecular imaging technology , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01EB026331
  • May 1, 2017 - April 30, 2021 - Dynamic cardiac SPECT , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH/NHLBI, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL135490
  • September 21, 2018 - August 20, 2020 - Preclinical Dark-Field/Phase-Contrast Scanner Using X-ray Biprisms , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R43EB027535
  • April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2019 - Pretherapy 124I-MIBG Dosimetry for Planning 131I-MIBG Neuroblastoma Therapy , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA154561
  • September 23, 2015 - September 22, 2017 - Combined dual-modality SPECT/CT for small animal imaging research at UCSF , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: S10OD012301
  • May 1, 2011 - April 30, 2017 - Energy-Independent Single Photon Molecular Imaging Technology , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01EB012965
  • July 12, 2006 - June 30, 2012 - Prostate Cancer Management with Multimodality Imaging , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K25CA114254
  • January 15, 2007 - December 31, 2010 - Novel acquisition strategies for cardiovascular functional and molecular imaging , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21HL083073

Education

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, B.S., 1995, Physics
University of Alabama in Huntsville, M.S., 1997, Physics/Space Plasma
University of California, Irvine, 1998-1999, Physics/Medical Physics
University of California, Los Angeles, M.S., 2001, Physics
University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D., 2002, Physics/Astroparticle Physics
University of California, Los Angeles, Post-doc, 2002-2003, Physics/Neutrino Physics
University of California, San Francisco, Post-doc, 2003-2006, Medical Imaging Physics

Honors & Awards

  • 2021-22
    Outstanding Teacher Award, UCSF MSBI Program
  • 2020
    Outstanding Reviewer, Resource Allocation Program, University of California, San Francisco
  • 2019
    Alexander R. Margulis Award for Scientific Excellence, Radiological Society of North America
  • 2016
    Distinguished Investigator Award, Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research
  • 2011
    Physicist of the Year Award, Korean Association of Medical Physicists in North America
  • 2010
    Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation of the Year Award, Prostate Cancer Diagnosis North America
  • 2006-11
    Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award, National Cancer Institute

Selected Publications

  1. Bidkar AP, Peter R, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Bidlingmaier S, Meher N, Chou J, Greenland N, Dasari C, Naik S, Raveendran A, Basak M, Camara Serrano JA, Steri V, Kogan S, Oskowitz A, He J, Wilson DM, Aggarwal R, Sriram R, VanBrocklin HF, Seo Y, Liu B, Flavell RR. Effective Treatment of Disseminated Prostate Cancer Using CD46-Targeted 225Ac Therapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Feb 13.  View on PubMed
  2. Seo SJ, Seo Y. Production and Supply of Raw Materials for Radiometals used in Radionuclide Imaging and Therapy in Korea. Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2025 Apr; 59(2):103-116.  View on PubMed
  3. Chao CK, Blecha J, Polvoy I, Nillo RM, Seo Y, Wilson DM, Forsayeth JR, VanBrocklin HF, Gerdes JM. First-in-human healthy volunteer dosimetry studies of the excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2) PET imaging tracer methyl N4-(7-[18F]fluoro-9H-fluoren-2-yl)asparaginate, [18F]RP-115. Nucl Med Biol. 2025 Jan 14; 142-143:108992.  View on PubMed
  4. Meher N, Bidkar AP, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Dhrona S, Dasari C, Mu C, Fong COY, Cámara JA, Ali U, Basak M, Bulkley D, Steri V, Fontaine SD, Zhu J, Oskowitz A, Aggarwal RR, Sriram R, Chou J, Wilson DM, Seo Y, Santi DV, Ashley GW, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. PET Imaging Using 89Zr-Labeled StarPEG Nanocarriers Reveals Heterogeneous Enhanced Permeability and Retention in Prostate Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther. 2025 Jan 02; 24(1):141-151.  View on PubMed
  5. Kandala AN, Wang S, Blecha JE, Wang YH, Lall RK, Niknejad AM, Seo Y, Evans MJ, Flavell RR, VanBrocklin HF, Anwar M. Millimeter-scale radioluminescent power for electronic sensors. iScience. 2025 Jan 17; 28(1):111686.  View on PubMed
  6. Seo YJ, Park JH, Byun JH. Therapeutic Potential of Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase1 (SCD1) in Modulating the Effects of Fatty Acids on Osteoporosis. Cells. 2024 10 28; 13(21).  View on PubMed
  7. Peter R, Bidkar AP, Bobba KN, Zerefa L, Dasari C, Meher N, Wadhwa A, Oskowitz A, Liu B, Miller BW, Vetter K, Flavell RR, Seo Y. 3D small-scale dosimetry and tumor control of 225Ac radiopharmaceuticals for prostate cancer. Sci Rep. 2024 08 27; 14(1):19938.  View on PubMed
  8. Caravaca J, Bobba KN, Du S, Peter R, Gullberg GT, Bidkar AP, Flavell RR, Seo Y. A Technique to Quantify Very Low Activities in Regions of Interest With a Collimatorless Detector. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2024 08; 43(8):2745-2757.  View on PubMed
  9. Shrestha UM, Chae HD, Fang Q, Lee RJ, Packiasamy J, Huynh L, Blecha J, Huynh TL, VanBrocklin HF, Levi J, Seo Y. A Feasibility Study of [18F]F-AraG Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for Cardiac Imaging-Myocardial Viability in Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Model. Mol Imaging Biol. 2024 Oct; 26(5):869-878.  View on PubMed
  10. Diwanji D, Carrodeguas E, Seo Y, Kang H, Soe MH, Chiang JM, Zhang L, Liu C, Behr SC, Flavell RR. Comparative Uptake Patterns of Radioactive Iodine and [18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in Metastatic Differentiated Thyroid Cancers. J Clin Med. 2024 Jul 06; 13(13).  View on PubMed
  11. Peluso MJ, Ryder D, Flavell RR, Wang Y, Levi J, LaFranchi BH, Deveau TM, Buck AM, Munter SE, Asare KA, Aslam M, Koch W, Szabo G, Hoh R, Deswal M, Rodriguez AE, Buitrago M, Tai V, Shrestha U, Lu S, Goldberg SA, Dalhuisen T, Vasquez JJ, Durstenfeld MS, Hsue PY, Kelly JD, Kumar N, Martin JN, Gambhir A, Somsouk M, Seo Y, Deeks SG, Laszik ZG, VanBrocklin HF, Henrich TJ. Tissue-based T cell activation and viral RNA persist for up to 2 years after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Sci Transl Med. 2024 Jul 03; 16(754):eadk3295.  View on PubMed
  12. Levi J, Guglielmetti C, Henrich TJ, Yoon JC, Gokhale PC, Reardon DA, Packiasamy J, Huynh L, Cabrera H, Ruzevich M, Blecha J, Peluso MJ, Huynh TL, An SM, Dornan M, Belanger AP, Nguyen QD, Seo Y, Song H, Chaumeil MM, VanBrocklin HF, Chae HD. [18F]F-AraG imaging reveals association between neuroinflammation and brown- and bone marrow adipose tissue. Commun Biol. 2024 07 01; 7(1):793.  View on PubMed
  13. Kumar P, Koach J, Nekritz E, Mukherjee S, Braun BS, DuBois SG, Nasholm N, Haas-Kogan D, Matthay KK, Weiss WA, Gustafson C, Seo Y. Aurora Kinase A inhibition enhances DNA damage and tumor cell death with 131I-MIBG therapy in high-risk neuroblastoma. EJNMMI Res. 2024 Jun 13; 14(1):54.  View on PubMed
  14. Kline B, Yadav S, Seo Y, Ippisch RC, Castillo J, Aggarwal RR, Kelley RK, Behr SC, Flavell RR, Lawhn-Heath C, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Wang V, Yom SS, Ha P, Jiang F, Hope TA. 68Ga-FAP-2286 PET of Solid Tumors: Biodistribution, Dosimetry, and Comparison with 18F-FDG. J Nucl Med. 2024 Jun 03; 65(6):938-943.  View on PubMed
  15. Meher N, Ashley GW, Bobba KN, Wadhwa A, Bidkar AP, Dasari C, Mu C, Sankaranarayanan RA, Serrano JAC, Raveendran A, Bulkley DP, Aggarwal R, Greenland NY, Oskowitz A, Wilson DM, Seo Y, Santi DV, VanBrocklin HF, Flavell RR. Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Targeted StarPEG Nanocarrier for Imaging and Therapy of Prostate Cancer. Adv Healthc Mater. 2024 Jul; 13(19):e2304618.  View on PubMed
  16. Shrestha U, Chae HD, Fang Q, Lee RJ, Packiasamy J, Huynh L, Blecha J, Huynh TL, VanBrocklin HF, Levi J, Seo Y. A feasibility study of [18F]F-AraG positron emission tomography (PET) for cardiac imaging - myocardial viability in ischemia-reperfusion injury model. Res Sq. 2024 Apr 30.  View on PubMed
  17. Diwanji D, Onishi N, Hathi DK, Lawhn-Heath C, Kornak J, Li W, Guo R, Molina-Vega J, Seo Y, Flavell RR, Heditsian D, Brain S, Esserman LJ, Joe BN, Hylton NM, Jones EF, Ray KM. 18F-FDG Dedicated Breast PET Complementary to Breast MRI for Evaluating Early Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy. Radiol Imaging Cancer. 2024 03; 6(2):e230082.  View on PubMed
  18. Wadhwa A, Wang S, Patiño-Escobar B, Bidkar AP, Bobba KN, Chan E, Meher N, Bidlingmaier S, Su Y, Dhrona S, Geng H, Sarin V, VanBrocklin HF, Wilson DM, He J, Zhang L, Steri V, Wong SW, Martin TG, Seo Y, Liu B, Wiita AP, Flavell RR. CD46-Targeted Theranostics for PET and 225Ac-Radiopharmaceutical Therapy of Multiple Myeloma. Clin Cancer Res. 2024 03 01; 30(5):1009-1021.  View on PubMed
  19. Ramesh P, Ruan D, Liu SJ, Seo Y, Braunstein S, Sheng K. Hypoxia-informed RBE-weighted beam orientation optimization for intensity modulated proton therapy. Med Phys. 2024 Mar; 51(3):2320-2333.  View on PubMed
  20. Bobba KN, Bidkar AP, Wadhwa A, Meher N, Drona S, Sorlin AM, Bidlingmaier S, Zhang L, Wilson DM, Chan E, Greenland NY, Aggarwal R, VanBrocklin HF, He J, Chou J, Seo Y, Liu B, Flavell RR. Development of CD46 targeted alpha theranostics in prostate cancer using 134Ce/225Ac-Macropa-PEG4-YS5. Theranostics. 2024; 14(4):1344-1360.  View on PubMed

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