Caroline De Gracia Lux, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor School Medical School Department Radiology | Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programs Biomedical Engineering Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Caroline de Gracia Lux received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg under the mentorship of Marie Pierre Krafft, Ph.D. synthesizing and evaluating new classes of fluorinated surfactants to promote self-assembly and compartmentalized systems for material science applications. Following her Ph.D., she completed postdoctoral training at UCSD focusing on biocompatible materials for theranostic applications. She was instrumental in the success of various projects on polymeric materials that degrade and release their contents in response to either abnormal biological conditions or by remote optical activation. She concurrently completed a Micro-MBA program at UCSD (Rady School of Management) that focused on communication, leadership in high performance teams, finance, strategy and marketing. She recently joined the newly established Translational Research in Ultrasound Theranostics program at UT Southwestern Dept of Radiology. Her current research interest is combining creative synthetic chemistry and formulation to develop ultrasound contrast agent with sophisticated architecture aimed to address a wide range of challenges in cancer imaging and treatment. Ongoing projects focus on the stabilization of low boiling point perfluorocarbon emulsion using a low interfacial tension approach, the development of new activatable ultrasound contrast agents and multimodal imaging probes. Education Undergraduate University of Upper Alsace (2005), Chemistry Graduate School University of Upper Alsace (2007), Chemistry Graduate School University of Strasbourg (2010), Chemistry Graduate School Uni of California-San Diego (2015), Business Administration Research Interest Microbubbles, Nanobubbles, Nanodroplets, Ultrasound Contrast Agents, Perfluorocarbon Emulsions, Chemistry, Bioresponsive Materials, Perfluorocarbon Emulsions for Pulmonary Indications, Immunotherapy Publications Featured Publications Bubble inflation using phase-change perfluorocarbon nanodroplets as a strategy for enhanced ultrasound imaging and therapy Brambila CJ, Lux J, Mattrey RM, Boyd D, Borden MA, de Gracia Lux C Langmuir 2020 11 36 2954-2965 Fluorous-phase iron oxide nanoparticles as enhancers of acoustic droplet vaporization of perfluorocarbons with supra-physiologic boiling point. Vezeridis AM, de Gracia Lux C, Barnhill SA, Kim S, Wu Z, Jin S, Lux J, Gianneschi NC, Mattrey RF, J Control Release 2019 May 302 54-62 Novel method for the formation of monodisperse superheated perfluorocarbon nanodroplets as activatable ultrasound contrast agents. de Gracia Lux C, Vezeridis AM, Lux J, Armstrong AM, Sirsi SR, Hoyt K, Mattrey RF RSC Adv 2017 7 77 48561-48568 Exploiting oxidative microenvironments in the body as triggers for drug delivery systems. Joshi-Barr S, de Gracia Lux C, Mahmoud E, Almutairi A Antioxid. Redox Signal. 2014 Aug 21 5 730-54 Biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles degrade and release cargo in response to biologically relevant levels of hydrogen peroxide. de Gracia Lux C, Joshi-Barr S, Nguyen T, Mahmoud E, Schopf E, Fomina N, Almutairi A J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012 Sep 134 38 15758-64 Compression of self-assembled nano-objects: 2D/3D transitions in films of (perfluoroalkyl)alkanes--persistence of an organized array of surface micelles. de Gracia Lux C, Gallani JL, Waton G, Krafft MP Chemistry 2010 Jun 16 24 7186-98 Lipid Microparticle-Based Phantoms Modeling Hepatic Steatosis for the Validation of Quantitative Imaging Techniques. Endsley C, Ali S, Salhadar K, Woodward A, Garland S, Santelli J, Salimabad MZ, Ren L, Yokoo T, Rosado-Mendez IM, Fetzer DT, de Gracia Lux C, Small Methods 2025 Apr e2500043 Perfluorohexane Emulsions Induce Macrophage-Stimulating Effects through iNOS Expression. Gao R, Wang E, Pineiro V, Chudal L, Santelli J, Endsley C, Woodward A, de Gracia Lux C, Lux J, Mattrey RF, ACS Appl Bio Mater 2025 Apr Modulating Nonlinear Acoustic Response of Phospholipid-Coated Microbubbles with pH for Ultrasound Imaging. Ali S, de Gracia Lux C, Brown K, Endsley C, Woodward A, Mattrey R, Lux J, ACS Sens 2024 May 9 5 2356-2363 Direct Emulsification of Stable Superheated Perfluorobutane Nanodroplets by Sonication: Addressing the Limitations of the Microbubble Condensation Technique. Woodward A, Mattrey RF, de Gracia Lux C, Ultrasound Med Biol 2024 Mar 50 3 445-452 Results 1-10 of 21 1 2 3 Next Last Honors & Awards Haberecht Wildhare Idea (UT Southwestern) (2021) Emerging Scientist Award (Children Cancer Research Fund) (2019) Innovating Project "Doctoriales d' Alsace" (CNRS and Region Alsace) (2009) Travel Fellowship (French Society of Chemistry and Doctoral School of Chemistry) (2008) Travel Fellowship (Groupe Francais du Fluor) (2008) Engineering Doctorate Fellowship (CNRS and Region Alsace) (2007-2010) Professional Associations/Affiliations American Chemical Society (2011) American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (2017) Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (2018) Materials Research Society (2017) Society for Biomaterials (2018)
