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Associate Professor, Basic Sciences, Physiology Division
Assistant Professor, Radiation Medicine
Shu-Wei (Richard) Sun, PhD
Previous Academic Positions
Research Instructor (January 1, 2007 – August 31, 2008)
Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Senior Scientist (May 1, 2005 – December 31, 2006)
Biomedical MR Lab, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Postdoctoral Research Associate (July 1, 2002 – April 30, 2005
Biomedical MR Lab, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Courses
CLSM 315 Physiology
PHTH 539 Integrative Physiology
PHSL 588 Pathophysiology
NSBB 500 Foundations of Neuroscience
NSBB 510 Cortical Circuits
AHCJ 526 Neurophysiology
Grants
2006 – 2009 National Multiple Sclerosis Society (RG 3864, PI: Shu-Wei Sun)
Characterizing Axonal Damage in CNS of Murine EAE via Diffusion Tensor Imaging.
2011 – 2015 NIH R01 NS062830, PI: Shu-Wei Sun
Understanding neuronal and axonal degeneration in a murine model of human MS
Honor and Invited Lecturer
Student/Postdoctoral stipend awards from the ISMRM (2002 – 2005, once per year)
Invited speaker at the International Symposium on Biomedical Engineering (2006), Radiology, Loma Linda University (2007), Oregon Health Sciences University (2009), National Yang-Ming University (2010), Pharmaceutical Science, Loma Linda University (2011), Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside (2011), Research Imaging Institute, the University of Texas Health Science Center (2011).
Invited Reviewer
Abstracts for Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2002 – 2006, 2008-2011);
Manuscripts for Brain Research (2006), NMR in Biomedicine (2006x1, 2008x1, 2010x2, 2011x4, 2012x1), Neurobiology of Disease (2008x1), Investigative Radiology (2009x1), Neurobiology of Aging (2011x1), Molecular Vision (2011x1), Journal of Neuroscience Research (2012x1);
Grant proposals for International Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek (ISAO, 2008), ELA Research Foundation (2008), Alzheimer’s Association (2009, 2010, 2011).
Mentor of Students on Scientific Research Activities
2010 Nolan Bayen, David Carrick, and Eric Won: all 1st year medical school students in Loma Linda University; Bruce Campbell, Clinical Laboratory Science program at the School of Allied health, LLU.
All of them finished at 2010 with 5 presentations (2011) and 1 peer-reviewed article (2011).
Bruce Campbell also received a stipend award from ISMRM (2011).
2011 Tiffany Thiel, Endre Agoston, Keelan Tuel, Ravi Rajpoot, Erik Valenti, and Martha Henao: all 1st year medical school students in Loma Linda University.
All of them finished at 2011 with 2 presentations at ISMRM (2012).
Publication: Peer-Reviewed Journal Article (*: Dr. Sun served as the corresponding author)
1. Sun SW, Song SK, Hong CY, Chu WC, and Chang C. Improving relative anisotropy measurement using directional correlation of diffusion tensors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2001;46:1088–1092.
2. Song SK, Sun SW, Ramsbottom MJ, Chang C, Russell J, and Cross AH. Dysmyelination Revealed through MRI as Increased Radial (but Unchanged Axial) Diffusion of Water. Neuroimage 2002;17(3):1429:1436.
3. Lin TN, Sun SW, Cheung WM, Li F, Chang C. Dynamic Changes in Cerebral Blood Flow and Angiogenesis after Transient Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats: Evaluation with Serial MRI. Stroke 2002;33: 2985-2991.
4. Sun SW, Neil JJ, and Song SK. Relative Indices of Water Diffusion Anisotropy are Equivalent in Live and Formalin-fixed Mouse Brain. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2003;50:743-8. No PMCID
5. Sun SW, Song SK, Hong CY, Chu WC, and Chang C. Directional Correlation Characterization and Classification of White Matter Tracts. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2003;49: 271-275. No PMCID
6. Song SK, Sun SW, Ju WK, Lin SJ, Cross AH, and Neufeld AH. Diffusion Tensor Imaging Detects and Differentiates Axon and Myelin Degeneration in Mouse Optic Nerve After Retinal Ischemia. Neuroimage 2003; 20(3):1714-1722. No PMCID
7. Armstrong RC, Lin SJ, Sun SW, Cross AH, Yoshino JE, Le TQ, Song SK. Increased radial diffusivity: a demyelination marker. Journal of Neurochemistry 2004; Suppl. 1; 90: 51-51.
8. Sun SW, Song SK, Lin SJ, Harms MP, Holtzman DM, Merchant KM, and Kotyk JJ. Detection of Age-Dependent Brain Injury in a Mouse Model of Brain Amyloidosis Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease Using Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Experimental Neurology 2005; 191: 77-85.
9. Song SK, Yoshino J, Le TQ, Lin SJ, Sun SW, Cross AH and Armstrong RC. Demyelination increases radial diffusivity in corpus callosum of mouse brain. Neuroimage 2005; 26: 132-140. No PMCID
10. Sun SW, Neil JJ, Liang HF, He YY, Schmidt RE, Hsu CY, and Song SK. Formalin fixation alters water diffusion coefficient magnitude but not anisotropy in infarcted brain. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2005; 53: 1447-1451. No PMCID
11. Lin CY, Sun SW, Hong CY, and Chang C. Unsupervised Identification of White Matter Tracts in a Mouse Brain Using a Directional Correlation Based Region Growing (DCRG) Algorithm. Neuroimage 2005; 28: 380-388. No PMCID
12. Sun SW, Liang HF, Le TQ, Armstrong RC, Cross AH, and Song SK. Differential Sensitivity of in Vivo and ex Vivo Diffusion Tensor Imaging to Evolving Optic Nerve Injury in Mice with Retinal Ischemia. Neuroimage 2006; 32: 1195-1204 No PMCID
13. Sun SW, Liang HF, Trinkaus K, Cross AH, Armstrong RC, and Song SK. Noninvasive Detection of Cuprizone Induced Axonal Damage and Demyelination in the Mouse Corpus Callosum. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2006; 55: 302-308 No PMCID
14. Shimony JS, Burton H, Epstein AA, McLaren DG, Sun SW, and Snyder AZ. Diffusion Tensor Imaging Reveals White Matter Reorganization in Early Blind Humans. Cerebral Cortex 2006; 16(11): 1653-1661. No PMCID
15. Sun SW, Liang HF, Schmidt RE, Cross AH, and Song SK. Selective Vulnerability of Cerebral White Matter in a Murine Model of Multiple Sclerosis Detected Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Neurobiology of Disease 2007; 28: 30-38. PMCID: PMC2905808
16. Benzinger TLS, Cross AH, Xu J, Naismith R, Sun SW, and Song SK. Directional diffusivity as a magnetic resonance (MR) biomarker in demyelinating disease. Proc. SPIE 2007; Vol. 6759
17. Sun SW, Liang HF, Cross AH, and Song SK. Evolving Wallerian Degeneration after Transient Retinal Ischemia in Mice Characterized by Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Neuroimage 2008; 40: 1-10. PMCID: PMC2276530
18. Xu J, Sun SW, Naismith RT, Snyder AZ, Cross AH, Song SK, Assessing Optic Nerve Pathology with Diffusion MRI: from Mouse to Human, NMR in Biomedicine 2008; 21(9):928-40. PMCID: PMC2603138
19. Ou X, Sun SW, Liang HF, Song SK, Gochberg DF. Quantitative magnetization transfer measured pool-size ratio reflects optic nerve myelin content in ex vivo mice. Magn Reson Med. 2009;61(2):364-71. PMCID: PMC2632728
20. Klawiter EC, Trinkaus K, Liang HF, Shu-Wei Sun, Budde M, Naismith RT, Schmidt R, Song SK, Cross AH, Benzinger T. Axial and Radial Diffusivity as MR Blomarkers of Axonal and Myelin Injury in Ex-Vivo Multiple Sclerosis Cervical Spinal Cords. NEUROLOGY. 2009;72(11): A435-A435.
21. Ou X, Sun SW, Liang HF, Song SK, Gochberg DF. The MT pool size ratio and the DTI radial diffusivity may reflect the myelination in shiverer and control mice. NMR Biomed. 2009; Jun;22(5):480-7. No PMCID
22. Sun SW*, Liang HF, Xie M, Oyoyo U, and Lee A. Fixation, Not Death, Reduces Sensitivity of DTI in Detecting Optic Nerve Damage. Neuroimage 2009; 44: 611-619. No PMCID
23. Sun SW, Chen YJ, Chou KH and Chu WC. Keyhole and Zero-Padding Approaches for Reduced-Encoding Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Mouse Brains. Magnetic Resonance Imaging 2010, 28: 1413–1419. PMCID: PMC3282590
24. McAuley G, Schrag M, Sipos P, Sun SW, Obenaus A, Neelavalli J, Haacke EM, Holshouser B, Madácsi R, Kirsch W. Quantification of punctate iron sources using magnetic resonance phase. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2010;63(1):106-15. No PMCID
25. Sun SW*, Campbell B, Lunderville C, Won E, Liang HF. Noninvasive Topical Loading for Manganese-Enhanced MRI in Mouse Visual System. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2011; 52: 3914–3920. PMCID: PMC3109065
26. Xie M, Wang Q, Wu TH, Song SK, Sun SW*. Delayed axonal degeneration in slow Wallerian degeneration mutant mice detected using diffusion tensor imaging. Neuroscience 197 (2011) 339–347. PMCID: PMC3282589
27. Sun SW*, Thiel T, Liang HF, Impact of Repeated Topical Loading Manganese-Enhanced MRI in the Mouse Visual System. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2012 Jul 12;53(8):4699-709 PMCID: PMC3400497
28. Sun SW *, Mei J, Tuel K, Comparison of Mouse Brain DTI Maps Using K-space Average, Image-space Average, or No Average Approach, Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2013 Nov;31(9):1532-6
29. Sun SW *, Liang HF, Mei J, Xu D, Shi WX, In vivo DTI of Amyloid β-induced White Matter Damage in Mice. JOURNAL OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. 2014 Jan 1;38(1):93-101
Publication: Conference Presentation (*: Dr. Sun served as the PI)
2000 Shu-Wei Sun, Sheng-Kwei Song, Woei Chyn Chu, and Chen Chang. Direction-Weighted Relative Anisotropy Maps for Improved Nerve Fiber Visualization. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, page 1201, (2000). Denver, USA.
2000 Shu-Wei Sun, Wai-Mai Cheuug, Woei-Chyn Chu, Teng-Nan Lin, and Chen Chaug. Temporal Study of Rat Brain Following Ischemia Reperfusion by Quantitative T2-Weighted MRI and Diffusion-Weighted MRI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, page 1289, (2000). Denver, USA.
2000 Sheng-Kwei Song, Shu-Wei Sun, Corinne Fantz, Mark Sands, Chen Chang, and Joseph J. H. Ackerman. In Vivo Neuronal Fiber Tract Mapping in Mouse Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Detection of Central Nervous System Phenotypes in Twitcher Mice. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, page 788, (2000). Denver, USA.
2001 Shu-Wei Sun, Sheng-Kwei Song, Chung-Yi Hong, Woei Chyn Chu, and Chen Chang. Improving Relative Anisotropy Measurement using Directional Correlation of Eigenvectors. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, page 1538, (2001). Glasgow, UK.
2002 Shu-Wei Sun, Chung-Yi Hong, Sheng-Kwei Song, Woei C. Chu, and Chen Chang. The analysis of the water diffusion directionality in white matter using directional correlation. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, page 1144, (2002). Hawaii, USA.
2002 Shu-Wei Sun, Woei C. Chu, Chen Chang. Evaluation of white matter lesions induced by 3-Nitropropionic Acid using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB, page 1233, (2002). Hawaii, USA.
2003 Shu-Wei Sun, Jeffrey J. Neil, Sheng-Kwei Song. Preservation of White Matter Diffusion Anisotropy Indices in the Fixed Mouse. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2003) Toronto, Canada.
2003 Shu-Wei Sun, Wonkyu Ju, Lin Zhao, Anne H. Cross, Jeffrey J. Neil, Arthur H. Neufeld, and Sheng-Kwei Song. Differentiation of Axonal and Myelin Injury using Directional Diffusivities. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2003) Toronto, Canada.
2004 Sheng-Kwei Song, Shu-Wei Sun, Anne Cross, Tuan Le, Regina Armstrong, Increased radial diffusivity: A demyelination marker. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2004) Kyoto, Japan.
2004 Shu-Wei Sun, Won-Kyu Ju, Shiow-Jiuan Lin, Arthur H. Neufeld, Anne H. Cross, Sheng-Kwei Song, Evolving Optic Nerve Degeneration after retinal ischemia Assessed Using MR Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2004) Kyoto, Japan.
2004 Shu-Wei Sun, John J. Kotyk, Shiow-Jiuan Lin, Kalpana M. Merchant, David Holtzman, and Sheng-Kwei Song. Evolving White Matter Injury in Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model Characterized by Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2004) Kyoto, Japan.
2004 Shu-Wei Sun, Yong Y He, Jeffrey J. Neil, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Formalin fixation alters water diffusion magnitude but not anisotropy in infarcted brain. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2004) Kyoto, Japan.
2005 Shu-Wei Sun, Kathryn Trinkaus, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Diffusion Anisotropy Is Not Changed in Formalin Fixed Injured White Matter. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2005) Maimi, USA.
2005 Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Kathryn Trinkaus, Anne H. Cross, Regina Armstrong, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Noninvasive Detection of Axon and Myelin Damage in Mouse Corpus Callosum. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2005) Maimi, USA.
2005 Shu-Wei Sun, Anne H. Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Axonal and Myelin Damage to Optic Nerve and Optic Tract in EAE Mice Characterized by DTI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2005) Maimi, USA.
2006 Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Axonal Injury Is Detected By Postmortem DTI Before Fixation (But Not After). Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2006) Seatle, USA.
2006 Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Anne H. Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Wallerian Degeneration in Visual Pathway Detected Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2006) Seatle, USA.
2006 Shu-Wei Sun and Sheng-Kwei Song, Diffusion Time Dependence of DTI Measurements. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2006) Seatle, USA.
2006 Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Anne H. Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Remote Axonal Degeneration Detected Using in vivo DTI. Annual Meeting of Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) 2006.
2007 Shu-Wei Sun, Mingqiang Xie, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Axial Diffusivity Detects Axonal Injury Live and Postmortem Before but not After Formalin Fixation. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2007 Shu-Wei Sun, Yu-Jen Chen, K H Chou, and Woei Chyn Chu, The Employment and Validation of Keyhole Imaging Technique in MR Spin-Echo Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2007 Shu-Wei Sun, Anne H Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Temporal and spatial evolution of Wallerian degeneration in central nervous system detected using DTI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2007 Hsiao-Fang Liang, Shu-Wei Sun, Pei-Ching Chang, Chen Chang, Anne H Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song. Reversible Axonal Injury Detected by DTI and Immnohistochemistry. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2007 Xiawei Ou, Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Daniel Gochberg, and Sheng-Kwei Song, QMT estimated pool size ratio and DTI derived radial diffusivity reflect the integrity of myelin sheath in mice. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2007 Xiawei Ou, Shu-Wei Sun, Daniel Gochberg, and Sheng-Kwei Song, QMT is specifically sensitive to myelin and not axonal injury in optic nerve from mice undergoing transient retinal ischemia. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2007 J. P. Haldar, J. Anderson, Shu-Wei Sun, Maximum Likelihood Estimation of T1 Relaxation Parameters Using VARPRO. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2007) Berlin, Germany.
2008 Shu-Wei Sun and Sheng-Kwei Song, Optic nerve damage of EAE mice detected by DTI but not by MEMRI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2008) Toronto, Canada.
2008 Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Anne H Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Evaluating Wallerian Degeneration in Visual Pathway of EAE Mice. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2008) Toronto, Canada.
2008 Shu-Wei Sun, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Anne H Cross, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Axial Diffusivity in Optic Nerve Correlates Retinal Ganglia Cell Loss in EAE Mice. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2008) Toronto, Canada.
2008 Shu-Wei Sun, Mathew D Budde, and Sheng-Kwei Song, Negative MEMRI in Optic Nerve after Transient Retinal Ischemia. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2008) Toronto, Canada.
2009 Shu-Wei Sun*, Intravoxal V1-IP: An Improved White Matter Index Compared to Diffusion Anisotropy. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2009) Honolulu, USA.
2009 Shu-Wei Sun*, MEMRI Detects Axonal Degeneration Earlier then DTI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2009) Honolulu, USA.
2010 Shu-Wei Sun*, Chantal Lunderville, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Noninvasive topical agent loading for visual MEMRI. Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (2010), San Diego, CA, USA.
2011 David Carrick and Shu-Wei Sun*, AMYLOID BETA INJECTION IN AXONAL TERMINAL SITES RESULTS IN MOUSE OPTIC TRACT DEGENERATION. American Federation for Medical Research (2011), Carmel, California.
2011 Bruce Campbell, Eric Won, Chantal Lunderville, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Shu-Wei Sun*, Comparing Topical Administration and Intravitreal Injection of Mn2+ for MEMRI on Mouse Visual Pathway. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2011) Montreal, Canada.
2011 Bruce Campbell, Eric Won, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Shu-Wei Sun*, Topical administration of Mn2+ for MEMRI may not enter vitreous space to reach retina. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2011) Montreal, Canada.
2011 Shu-Wei Sun*, DTI Reconstruction: K-space Average, Image-space Average, or No Average. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2011) Montreal, Canada.
2011 David Carrick, Bruce Campbell, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Wei-Xing Shi, Shu-Wei Sun*, Axonal Damage Caused by Exposure of Axon Terminals to Amyloid Beta. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2011) Montreal, Canada.
2011 Dan Xu, Hsiao-Fang Liang, Wei-Xing Shi, Shu-Wei Sun*, Correlation between DTI and Visual Evoked Potential in Mice with Optic Neuritis. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2011) Montreal, Canada.
2012 Hsiao-Fang Liang, Tiffany Thiel, Erik Valenti, Martha Henao, and Shu-Wei Sun*, Biweekly Repeated Topical-Loaded Manganese-Enhanced MRI in Mouse Visual System for Three Months. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2012) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
2012 Tiffany Thiel, Endre Agoston, Keelan Tuel, Ravi Rajpoot, Hsiao-Fang Liang and Shu-Wei Sun*, Cornea damage did not affect topical-loaded Manganese-Enhanced MRI. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2012) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
2012 Shu-Wei Sun, Nirmalya Ghosh, Karen Tong, Barbara Holshouser, and Stephen Ashwal, Heterogeneity of human white matter development: diffusivity parameters decrease fastest in the center of white matter tracts, from 5 to 19 years of age. Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB (2012) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
With your help, we can advance education and improve student success in our community.