Principal Investigator
Caroline de Gracia Lux, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern
D1.204, 214-648-5094
Email
Dr. Caroline de Gracia Lux is a chemist with a background in materials chemistry and formulation, specializing in the design and development of acoustically active materials for theranostic applications.
As a graduate student at the University of Strasbourg under the mentorship of Dr. Marie Pierre Krafft, she focused on the design, synthesis, and application of fluorinated molecules for the construction of complex self-assembled nanoscale systems. During her postdoctoral training at UC San Diego with Dr. Adah Almutairi, she worked on the design and formulation of nanoparticles for drug delivery and imaging. Her research utilized synthetic polymers engineered to disassemble in response to external light stimuli or elevated hydrogen peroxide levels characteristic of pathological conditions.
In 2015, Dr. de Gracia Lux joined UT Southwestern as part of the Translational Research in Ultrasound Theranostics (TRUST) program, where she developed novel ultrasound contrast agents for cancer imaging and therapy.
Her current research interests include the development of advanced ultrasound-based platforms, such as phase-change contrast agents, bioresponsive microbubbles, and liver phantoms that mimic the size of fat vesicles observed in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Her long-term goal is to enhance clinicians’ capabilities in disease detection and treatment through innovative imaging technologies.