I am a Professor of Physics in the Physics Department at Oakland University. I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in physics. My major research project studies the degradation of articular cartilage, which leads to osteoarthritis (the #1 cause of disability in human).

We use multidisciplinary microscopic imaging approach to study different aspects of cartilage degradation. We are truly unique in high-resolution imaging research, since we have six complementary microscopic imaging systems in our lab, with spatial resolutions ranging from a fraction of µm to tens of µm. We know each instrument thoroughly and have developed quantitative protocols on each system. My cartilage research has been continuously supported by four 5-year R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since January 1999. My current research funding from NIH goes till March 2022.

On March 15, 2016, I delivered an edited book to the Royal Society of Chemistry (Cambridge, UK). The title of the book is “Biophysics and Biochemistry of Cartilage by NMR and MRI”. This is a unique book providing a contemporary snapshot of the roles NMR and MRI play in the current understanding of the biophysics and biochemistry of articular cartilage. As a treatise on cartilage research, it is the first book of its kind. This book has been published on Nov 16, 2016 (ISBN 978-1-78262-133-1). Here is the cover of the book.

Please check the link "Laboratory" for more information about my lab.
These external links document my research:
NIH BioSketch at SciENcv: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/xia_ou/cv/56208/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=yQKkkJwAAAAJ

Research Interests and Tools

Microscopic Imaging and Multi-disciplinary Correlation

NMR Microscopy (µMRI) – imaging molecular dynamics with resolution as fine as tens microns
Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) - calculation of collagen matrix's retardation and angle
Electron Microscopy (TEM) - quantification of graphical details in images
Fourier Transform Infrared Imaging (FTIRI) - tissue anisotropy and molecular quantitation
Microscopic Computer Tomography (µCT) - the interface between soft (cartilage) and hard (bone) tissues
Biomechanics and Optical Imaging - 2D visualization of the strain distribution in soft tissue

Quantitative Mapping of Physical Parameters in Biological Systems

Velocity, self-diffusion, relaxation, anisotropy, chemical shift
Optical organization (retardation), fiber orientation (birefringence), infrared dichroism

Image Analysis and Processing

Binary data translation in multi-dimensional format (complex binary images)

Applications in Complex Systems

Articular cartilage, bone, and osteoarthritis (OA)
Eye and cataract, spider and dragline silk, vascular flows in plants
Polymer tube flows (eg, tubeless siphon or Fano flow)

Initial setup: January 4, 1999 (while others are digging themselves out of the Blizzard 99)

Last minor update (at https://files.oakland.edu/users/xia/web/): June 14, 2019