students and authored/co-authored 200 peer-reviewed journal papers and books chapters, 400 conference abstracts, 150 invited seminars and presentations, 15 patents/disclosures and 5 industrial/commercial software packages.
Xu and his students pioneered a method to use cadaver images to construct voxel human phantoms that are anatomically realistic.
The methodology behind the development of VIP-Man phantom represented a breakthrough in using “voxels” in Monte Carlo dose calculations for the human body.
This is the first time when the bone marrow and eye lenses were directly segmented and identified in the phantom for radiation dosimetry purposes.
His group was the first to have developed a capability in using four different Monte Carlo codes (MCNP, MCNPX, EGS, GEANT4) for voxel phantom dose calculations involving photons, electrons, protons, and many other heavy ions.
This innovative method also afforded the ability to simulate changes in human posture as well as physiology-caused organ deformation such as respiration.
This paper was rated among 10 of the best and most popular articles by the journal of Physics in Medicine and Biology and was one of the finalists for the Roberts’ Prize in 2007.