Biography

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Dr. Tony Hu is the Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Biotechnology Innovation and a Professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Microbiology at Tulane University. He is also the founding Director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Diagnostics at Tulane School of Medicine.

Dr. Hu received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009.  Dr. Hu’s research focuses on the development of nanomaterial platforms and proteomic approaches that are designed to enrich biomarker capture from microbial pathogens, or enhance biomarker signal, to improve the detection sensitivity, specificity, or quantitation of pathogen-derived soluble or extracellular vesicle (EV)-associated factors in complex biological samples. His research differs from conventional biomarker discovery and detection research for clinical microbiology in that it employs the special properties of nanomaterials to improve assay performance and reproducibility. This can have a profound impact on the ability to detect and quantitate target low abundance biomarkers in complex mixtures, allowing for the analysis of biomarkers that would otherwise be undetectable. Dr. Hu has made significant contributions to microbial diagnostics for critical global health initiatives, including a serum/plasma assay for all forms of tuberculosis and a mass spectrometry-based approach to differentiate closely related mycobacterium and Ebolavirus species.

His work has resulted in publications of over 110 high-impact papers and 15 patent applications involving nanomedicine in 10 years since becoming a faculty member in 2011. Seven of those patents have been licensed by US-based companies. He is also a co-founder of two biotech startup companies, Ares Diagnosis Inc. in San Jose, CA and NanoPin Technologies in New Orleans, LA.

Publications

1. Ning, B., Huang, Z., Youngquist, B. M, Scott, J. W., Niu, A., Bojanowski, C., M., Zwezdaryk, K. J., Saba, N., S., Fan, J., Yin, X., Cao, J., Lyon, C. J., Li, C., Roy, C. J., Hu, T.* Liposome-mediated detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA-positive extracellular vesicles in plasma. Nature Nanotechnology. 2021. Accepted.
2. Ning, B., Yu, T., Zhang, S., Huang, Z., Tian, D., Lin, Z., Niu, A., Golden, N., Hensley, K., Threeton, B., Lyon, C. J., Yin, X., Saba, N., Rappaport, J., Wei, Q., Hu, T.* A smartphone-read ultrasensitive and quantitative saliva test for COVID-19. Science Advances. 2021. 7(2): eabe3703.
3. Huang, Z., Ning, B., Yang, H., Youngquist, B., Niu, A., Lyon, C., Beddingfield, B., Fears, A., Monk, C., Murrell, A., Bilton, S., Linhuber, J., Norton, E., Dietrich, M., Lai, W., Scott, J., Yin, X., Rappaport, J., Robinson, J., Saba, N., Roy, C., Zwezdaryk, K., Zhao, Z., Hu, T.* Sensitive tracking of viral RNA in plasma through all stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection. J. Clinical Investigation. 2021, 131(7):e146031.
4. Mao, L., Lacourse, S., Kim, S., Ning, B., Bao, D., Fan, J., Sun, Z., Nackman, S., Mitchelle, C., Hu, T.* Evaluation of a blood-based antigen test for tuberculosis in HIV-exposed children younger than 5 years. BMC Medicine. 2021, 19:113.
5. Sun, D., Zhao, Z., Spiegel, S., Liu, Y., Fan, J., Amrollahi, P., Lyon, C. J., Wan, M., Hu, T.* Dye-free spectrophotometric measurement of nucleic acid-to-protein ratio for cell selective extracellular vesicle discrimination. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 2021. 179: 113058.
6. Hu, T.*, Walfrom, J. E., Srivastava, S. * Extracellular Vesicles in Cancer Detection: Hopes and Hypes. Cell: Trends in Cancer. 2021, 7(2): 122-133.
7. Liu, Y., Fan, J., Xu, T., Ahmadinejad, N., Hess, K., Lin, S., Zhang, J., Liu, X., Liu, X., Ning, B., Liao, Z., Hu, T.* Extracellular Vesicle Tetraspanin-8 Expression Predicts Distant Metastasis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer after Concurrent Chemoradiation. Science Advances. 2020, 6:11, eaaz6162.
8. Hu, T.*, Frieman, M.*, Walfram, J.* Insights from nanomedicine into chloroquine efficacy against COVID-19. Nature Nanotechnology. 2020, 15:247-249.
9. Rodrigues, M., Richards, N., Ning, B., Lyon, C., Hu, T.* Rapid lipid-based normalization of membrane protein expression on extracellular vesicles in complex biological samples. Nano Letters. 2019, 19, 11, 7623-7631 (Cover Story).
10. Liu, C., Lyon, C. J., Deng, Z., Walters, E., Li, Y., Zhang, L., Hesseling, A., Graviss, E. A., Hu, T.* Clinical evaluation of a blood assay to diagnose paucibacillary tuberculosis via bacterial antigens. Clinical Chemistry. 2018, 64(7): 1 (Cover Story).
11. Sun, D., Hu, T.* A low cost mobile phone-based dark-field microscope for nanoparticle-based quantitative studies. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 2017, 15;99:513-518.
12. Fan, J., Zhang, H., Nguyen, D., Lyon, C. J., Mitchell, C. D., Zhao, Z., Graviss, E. A., Hu, T.* Rapid diagnosis of new and recurrent tuberculosis by quantification of circulating antigen in HIV-infected adults in the Greater Houston Metropolitan area: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Medicine. 2017, 15:188.
13. Liu, C., Zhao, Z., Fan, J., Lyon, C. J., Wu, H., Nedelokv, D., Zelazny, A.M., Olivier, K.N., Cazares, L.H., Holland, S.H., Graviss, E. A., Hu, T.* Quantification of Circulating M. tuberculosis Antigens for Rapid Diagnosis and Real-time Treatment Monitoring. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 2017, 114(15):3969-3974. (Highlighted by New England Journal of Medicine)
14. Liang K., Liu, F., Fan, J., Sun, D., Bernard, D. W., Li, Y., Yokoi, K., Katz, M. H., Koay, E. J., Zhao, Z., Hu, T.* Nanoplasmonic Quantification of Tumor-derived Extracellular Vesicles in Plasma Microsamples for Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring. Nature Biomedical Engineering. 2017, 1:0021. (Highlighted by Nature Review Gastroenterology & Hepatology)
15. Sun, D., Fan, J., Liu, C., Liu, Y., Bu, Y., Lyon, C. J., Hu, T.* A noise reduction method for quantifying nanoparticle light scattering in low magnification dark-field microscope far-field images. Anal. Chem. 2016, 88(24): 12001-12005.

To view more of Dr. Hu's publications, visit PubMed