Youngho Seo, PhD

Youngho Seo
Professor in Residence
+1 415 353-9464

Youngho Seo, PhD, is a Professor, Director of Nuclear Imaging Physics, and Program Director of the Master of Science in Biomedical Imaging (MSBI) graduate program in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Faculty at the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, Program Member of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Faculty of the UC Berkeley - UCSF Bioengineering Graduate Program, and Physicist Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

He received his bachelor's degree in Physics from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) where he investigated radiation effects on electronics by cosmic ray as his senior thesis research project. He completed a master's degree in Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, focusing on space plasma physics. He spent one year at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as a medical physics student before moving to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he obtained his second master's degree and PhD in Physics with the dissertation on a dark matter experiment using dual-phase xenon under the supervision of Professor David B. Cline. He spent another year for postdoctoral training at the same institution in experimental neutrino physics. Dr. Seo joined the UCSF Physics Research Laboratory (PRL) in 2003, and was trained in medical imaging physics under the supervision of Professor Bruce H. Hasegawa before joining the faculty in 2006.

Dr. Seo leads a group of physicists and engineers working in the field of radionuclide and x-ray imaging instrumentation and physics, and directs the UCSF PRL. His primary research focus is to use quantitative SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MR molecular imaging tools for a broad range of research areas including small animal imaging using dedicated animal imaging systems, basic instrumentation development, and physics analysis of clinical research data. Visit the UCSF PRL webpage to learn more about the current projects.

Dr. Seo also directs the preclinical PET/SPECT/CT/Optical imaging core facility at the UCSF Center for Molecular and Functional Imaging at China Basin.

Expertise:
Radionuclide and x-ray imaging physics and instrumentation

Specialty:
SPECT/CT, PET/CT, PET/MR, CT, small animal PET/SPECT/CT

Education and Training:
• Bachelor of Science: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Physics)
• Master of Science: The University of Alabama in Huntsville (Space Plasma Physics)
• Master of Science: University of California, Los Angeles (Physics)
• Doctor of Philosophy: University of California, Los Angeles (Astroparticle Physics)
• Postdoctoral Training: University of California, Los Angeles (Neutrino Physics) and University of California, San Francisco (Medical Imaging Physics)

Honors and Awards
Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society, 2025
Editorial Contribution and Author Service Awards, Scientific Reports, Springer Nature, 2025
Second Place Poster Award (Cardiovascular), Senior Author Presentation, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2023
Outstanding Teacher Award, UCSF MSBI Program, 2021-2022
Outstanding Reviewer, Resource Allocation Program, University of California, San Francisco, 2020
Certificate of Merit for Scientific Exhibition Award, Radiological Society of North America, 2019
Alexander R. Margulis Award for Scientific Excellence, Radiological Society of North America, 2019
Distinguished Investigator Award, Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research, 2016
Second Place Poster Award (Oncology – Basic, Translational & Therapy Track), Co-Author Presentation, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2016
Research Award for Best Science Paper, Korean Association of Medical Physicists in North America, 2015
First Place Poster Award (Cardiovascular - Basic), Co-Author Presentation, Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, 2013
Physicist of the Year Award, Korean Association of Medical Physicists in North America, 2011
Technology Innovation of the Year Award, Prostate Cancer Diagnosis North America, Frost & Sullivan, 2010
Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award, National Cancer Institute, 2006-2011
Nomination for Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award in Experimental Particle Physics, American Physical Society, 2002
Government Scholarship, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Korea, 1992-1995

Publications

Effective Treatment of Disseminated Prostate Cancer Using CD46-Targeted 225Ac Therapy.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research

Bidkar AP, Peter R, Wadhwa A, Bobba KN, Bidlingmaier S, Meher N, Chou J, Greenland N, Dasari C, Naik S, Raveendran A, Basak M, Camara Serrano JA, Steri V, Kogan S, Oskowitz A, He J, Wilson DM, Aggarwal R, Sriram R, VanBrocklin HF, Seo Y, Liu B, Flavell RR

Tissue-based T cell activation and viral RNA persist for up to 2 years after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Science translational medicine

Peluso MJ, Ryder D, Flavell RR, Wang Y, Levi J, LaFranchi BH, Deveau TM, Buck AM, Munter SE, Asare KA, Aslam M, Koch W, Szabo G, Hoh R, Deswal M, Rodriguez AE, Buitrago M, Tai V, Shrestha U, Lu S, Goldberg SA, Dalhuisen T, Vasquez JJ, Durstenfeld MS, Hsue PY, Kelly JD, Kumar N, Martin JN, Gambhir A, Somsouk M, Seo Y, Deeks SG, Laszik ZG, VanBrocklin HF, Henrich TJ

Molecular Imaging of Prostate Cancer Targeting CD46 Using ImmunoPET.

Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research

Wang S, Li J, Hua J, Su Y, Beckford-Vera DR, Zhao W, Jayaraman M, Huynh TL, Zhao N, Wang YH, Huang Y, Qin F, Shen S, Gioeli D, Dreicer R, Sriram R, Egusa EA, Chou J, Feng FY, Aggarwal R, Evans MJ, Seo Y, Liu B, Flavell RR, He J

Preclinical SPECT and SPECT/CT.

Recent results in cancer research. Fortschritte der Krebsforschung. Progres dans les recherches sur le cancer

Seo Y, Jiang H, Franc BL

Measurement of through-going particle momentum by means of multiple scattering with the ICARUS T600 TPC

Eur Phys J C

Ankowski A, Antonello M, Aprili P, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Benetti P, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bueno A, Calligarich E, Carbonara F, Carmona MC, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Cline DB, Cieslik K, Cocco AG, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Di Cicco A, Dolfini R, Ereditato A, Ferrari A, Fiorillo G, Garcia-Gamez D, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, Holeczek J, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Lisowski B, Lozano J, Markiewicz M, Martinez de la Ossa A, Matthey C, Mauri F, Melgarejo AJ, Menegolli A, Meng G, Messina M, Mijakowski P, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Nowak J, Otwinowski S, Palamara O, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Posiada M, Prata M, Prata MC, Przewlocki P, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rossi B, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala PR, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Stefan D, Stepaniak J, Sulej R, Szeptycka M, Szarska M, Terrani M, Varanini F, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wachla T, Wang H, Yang X [ICARUS Collaboration]

Characterization of ETL 9357FLA photomultiplier tubes for cryogenic temperature applications

Nucl Instrum Meth A

Ankowski A, Antonello M, Aprili P, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Benetti P, Bischofberger M, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bucciarelli G, Bueno A, Calligarich E, Carbonara F, Carmona MC, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Cline DB, Cieslik K, Cocco AG, Dai Z, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Di Cicco A, Dolfini R, Ereditato A, Ferella A, Ferrari A, Fiorillo G, Garcia-Gamez D, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, Holeczek J, Juszczak C, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Lisowski B, Lozano J, Markiewicz M, Martinez de la Ossa A, Matthey C, Mauri F, Melgarejo AJ, Menegolli A, Meng G, Messina M, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Nowak J, Otwinowski S, Palamara O, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Prata M, Prata MC, Przewlocki P, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Santorelli R, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Stach S, Stepaniak J, Sulej R, Szeptycka M, Szarska M, Szelc A, Terrani M, Varanini F, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Yang X, Zalewska A [ICARUS Collaboration]

Design, construction and tests of the ICARUS T600 detector

Nucl Instrum Meth A

Amerio S, Amoruso S, Antonello M, Aprili P, Armenante M, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Bekman, B Benetti P, Bernardi E, Bischofberger M, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bruzzese R, Bueno A, Calligarich E, Campanelli M, Carbonara F, Carpanese C, Cavalli D, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Chen C, Chen D, Chen DB, Chen Y, Cid R, Cline DB, Cieslik K, Cocco AG, Corti D, Dai Z, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Di Cicco A, Dolfini R, Ereditato A, Felcini M, Ferella A, Ferrari A, Ferri F, Fiorillo G, Galli S, Garcia Gamez D, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, He K, Holeczek J, Huang X, Juszczak C, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Kuna-Ciskal H, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Li Z, Lisowski B, Lu F, Ma J, Mangano G, Mannochi G, Markiewicz M, Martinez de la Ossa A, Matthey C, Mauri F, Mazza D, Melgarejo AJ, Menegolli A, Meng G, Messina M, Mietelski JW, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Nicoletto M, Nowak J, Nurzia G, Osuna C, Otwinowski S, Ouyang O, Palamara O, Pascoli D, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Prata M, Rancati T, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rico J, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Santorelli R, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Spinelli N, Stepaniak J, Sulej R, Szeptycka M, Szarska M, Terrani M, Trinchero G, Velotta R, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Wang X, Woo J, Xu G, Xu Z, Yang X, Zalewska A, Zalipska J, Zhang C, Zhang Q, Zhen S, Zipper W [ICARUS Collaboration]

Study of electron recombination in liquid argon with the ICARUS TPC

Nucl Instrum Meth A

Amoruso S, Antonello M, Aprili P, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Bekman B, Benetti P, Bischofberger M, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bruzzese R, Bueno A, Buzzanca M, Calligarich E, Campanelli M, Carbonara F, Carpanese C, Cavalli D, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Chen C, Chen D, Chen DB, Chen Y, Cieslik K, Cline D, Cocco AG, Dai Z, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Di Cicco A, Dolfini R, Ereditato A, Felcini M, Ferrari A, Ferri F, Fiorillo G, Galli S, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, He K, Holeczek J, Huang X, Juszczak C, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Li Z, Lu F, Ma J, Mangano G, Markiewicz M, Martinez de la Ossa A, Matthey C, Mauri F, Meng G, Messina M, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Otwinowski S, Ouyang O, Palamara O, Pascoli D, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Rancati T, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rico J, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Santorelli R, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Spinelli N, Stepaniak J, Sulej R, Szarska M, Szeptycka M, Terrani M, Velotta R, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Wang X, Woo J, Xu G, Xu Z, Zalewska A, Zhang C, Zhang Q, Zhen S, Zipper W [ICARUS Collaboration]

Measurement of the muon decay spectrum with the ICARUS liquid argon TPC

Eur Phys J C

Amoruso S, Antonello M, Aprili P, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Bekman B, Benetti P, Bischofberger M, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bruzzese R, Bueno A, Calligarich E, Campanelli M, Carbonara F, Carpanese C, Cavalli D, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Chen C, Chen D, Chen DB, Chen Y, Cid R, Cieslik K, Cline D, Cocco AG, Dai Z, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Di Cicco A, Dolfini R, Ereditato A, Felcini M, Ferella A, Ferrari A, Ferri F, Fiorillo G, Galli S, Garcia-Gamez D, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, He K, Holeczek J, Huang X, Juszczak C, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Li Z, Lu F, Ma J, Mangano G, Mannocchi G, Markiewicz M, Martinez de la Ossa A, Matthey C, Mauri F, Melgarejo A, Menegolli A, Meng G, Messina M, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Nowak J, Osuna C, Otwinowski S, Ouyang O, Palamara O, Pascoli D, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Prata M, Rancati T, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rico J, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Santorelli R, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Spinelli N, Stepaniak J, Sulej R, Szarska M, Szeptycka M, Terrani M, Velotta R, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Wang X, Woo J, Xu G, Xu Z, Zalewska A, Zhang C, Zhang Q, Zhen S, Zipper W [ICARUS Collaboration]

Detection of Cherenkov light emission in liquid argon

Nucl Instrum Meth A

Antonello M, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Bekman B, Benetti P, Bernardini E, Bischofberger M, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bueno A, Calligarich E, Campanelli M, Carpanese C, Cavalli D, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Chen C, Chen D, Chen DB, Chen Y, Cieslik K, Cline D, Dai Z, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Dolfini R, Felcini M, Ferrari A, Ferri F, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, He K, Holeczek J, Huang X, Juszczak C, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Li Z, Lu F, Ma J, Markiewicz M, Matthey C, Mauri F, Mazza D, Meng G, Messina M, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Nurzia G, Otwinowski S, Ouyang O, Palamara O, Pascoli D, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Rancati T, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rico J, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Stepaniak J, Szarska M, Szeptycka M, Terrani M, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Woo J, Xu G, Xu Z, Zalewska A, Zalipska J, Zhang C, Zhang Q, Zhen S, Zipper W [ICARUS Collaboration]

Analysis of the liquid argon purity in the ICARUS T600 TPC

Nucl Instrum Meth A

Amoruso S, Antonello M, Aprili P, Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Baldo Ceolin M, Battistoni G, Bekman B, Benetti P, Bernardini E, Bischofberger M, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bruzzese R, Bueno A, Buzzanca M, Calligarich E, Campanelli M, Carbonara F, Carpanese C, Cavalli D, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Chen C, Chen D, Chen DB, Chen Y, Cieslik K, Cline D, Cocco AG, Dai Z, De Vecchi C, Dabrowska AD, Di Cicco A, Dolfini R, Ereditato A, Felcini M, Ferrari A, Ferri F, Fiorillo G, Galli S, Ge Y, Gibin D, Gigli Berzolari A, Gil-Botella I, Graczyk K, Grandi L, Guglielmi A, He K, Holeczek J, Huang X, Juszczak C, Kielczewska D, Kisiel J, Kozlowski T, Laffranchi M, Lagoda J, Li Z, Lu F, Ma J, Mangano G, Markiewicz M, Martinez de la Ossa A, Matthey C, Mauri F, Meng G, Messina M, Montanari C, Muraro S, Navas-Concha S, Nurzia G, Otwinowski S, Ouyang O, Palamara O, Pascoli D, Periale L, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Polchlopek W, Rancati T, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rico J, Rondio E, Rossella M, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Santorelli R, Scannicchio D, Segreto E, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Sobczyk J, Spinelli N, Stepaniak J, Szarska M, Szeptycka M, Szleper M, Terrani M, Velotta R, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Wang X, Woo J, Xu G, Xu Z, Zalewska A, Zalipska J, Zhang C, Zhang Q, Zhen S, Zipper W [ICARUS Collaboration]

Status of ZEPLIN II and ZEPLIN IV study

Nucl Phys Proc Suppl

Cline DB, Seo Y, Sergiampietri, Wang H, White JT, Gao J, Picchi P, Mannocchi G, Periale L, Pietropaolo F, Alner GJ, Hart SP, Lewin JD, Preece RM, Smith PF, Smith NJT, Spooner NJC, Tovey DR, Quenby JJ, Sumner TJ, Jones WG, Liubarsky I

The ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber

Nucl Instrum Meth A

Arneodo F, Badertscher A, Baiboussinov B, Battistoni G, Benetti P, Bernardini E, Borio di Tigliole A, Brunetti R, Bueno A, Calligarich E, Campanelli M, Carpanese C, Cavalli D, Cavanna F, Cennini P, Centro S, Cesana A, Chen C, Chen Y, Cline D, Dolfini R, Ferrari A, Gigli Berzolari A, Goudsmit P, He K, Huan X, Kruse A, Li Z, Lu F, Ma J, Mauri F, Matthey C, Mazza D, Mazzone L, Meng G, Montanari C, Nurzia GP, Otwinowski S, Palamara O, Pascoli D, Periale L, Petrera S, Piano Mortari G, Piazzoli A, Picchi P, Pietropaolo F, Rancati T, Rappoldi A, Raselli GL, Rico J, Rossella M, Rossi C, Rubbia A, Rubbia C, Sala P, Scannicchio D, Seo Y, Sergiampietri F, Suzuki S, Terrani M, Torre P, Ventura S, Vignoli C, Wang H, Woo J, Xu G, Xu Z, Zhang C, Zhang Q, Zheng S [ICARUS Collaboration]