Eul Hyun Suh, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Education & Experience:
Eul Hyun Suh received an BS degree in Chemistry from Seoul Women’s University, Korea, and a MS degree in Chemistry from Yonsei University, Korea. She received a PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering from UT Southwestern Medical Center. During her PhD dissertation research in biomedical imaging, she contributed to the developing hyperpolarized 13C and 15N magnetic resonance (MR) probes to explore metabolic alternations and intermediary metabolism associated with brain and prostate cancer. From fundamental MRI principles to advanced concepts like chemistry of molecular imaging probe, imaging theory and practice, cancer metabolism, and biosensing application biochemistry, her research has delved into a wide array of topics. She continued her research in the field of molecular imaging as a postdoctoral research associate at Advanced Imaging Research Center at UT Southwestern under Professor A. Dean Sherry. She has investigated the non-invasive imaging of pancreatic β-cell function in rodents using MRI and an optical zinc-detection reagent, and the bio-metal in prostate using hyperpolarized MR probes and biologically responsive imaging agents.
Teaching Areas & Interests:
Dr. Suh’s teaching interests are diverse, spanning across various subjects such as biochemistry, metabolic imaging, cancer metabolism, and medicinal chemistry. With her extensive experience in team teaching for Pharmaceutical Science to P2 students in the College of Pharmacy at UNTHSC and the Molecular Imaging & Probe Development course of the BME graduate program at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Suh has developed a keen interest in teaching. Specifically, her interests lie in teaching subjects such as molecular imaging, disease-related metabolism, and MRI imaging with MR physics. Additionally, Dr. Suh is interested in developing new courses that delve into current topics in metabolic disease or metabolic imaging to facilitate discussions on metabolism-related drug discovery and drug mechanisms. Along with her teaching experience, Dr. Suh has also provided research guiding to both undergraduate and graduate, helping them to successfully completing their projects, co- authoring publications, and receiving awards. As a faculty member of the Graduate School of Biomedical Science, she is especially passionate about mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
Professional Activities & Awards:
Dr. Suh is a member of several professional societies, including World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS), European Society for Molecular Imaging (ESMI), International Council on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems (ICMRBS), International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), American Chemical Society (ACS), and Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC). She has been served as a reviewer for various peer-reviewed journals in the field of molecular imaging, metabolic imaging, and chemistry.
Scholarly Interests:
The Suh laboratory is interested in applying novel molecular imaging tools to elucidate and visualize metabolic changes associated with diseases. The Suh laboratory research focuses on two main biomedical imaging technique for in vivo metabolism studies: 1) lanthanide-based responsive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) agents to detect Zn2+ secretion from the pancreas for in vivo β -cell function imaging, and enantiomeric detection of lactate in neurodegenerative disease. 2) to develop chemical probes labeled with 13C and 15N stable isotopes that could image metabolic processes in vivo in real-time using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) techniques. DNP hyperpolarization coupled with MR imaging is a rapidly growing metabolic imaging methodology that significantly increases the sensitivity of MR compared to conventional MRI, enabling biological studies that are typically challenging. DNP improves the NMR sensitivity of the 13C nucleus by more than 10,000-fold, allowing for the real-time imaging of enzyme-catalyzed reactions in a single or multiple pathways in vivo. The current focus of the Suh laboratory research is the development of chemical probes to sense the tissue pH and bio-metal, as well as to understand real-time metabolic flux in various areas such as cancer, host-gut microbiota metabolic interactions, and glia-neuron energy metabolism. Furthermore, to measure flux through complex metabolic pathways, the Suh laboratory will be integrating mass spectrometry (MS) technology into the NMR-based 13C isotopomer methods.
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