Charles L. Limoli

•Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, in the Program of Public Health

•Vice Chair of Research and Academic Affairs, Department of Radiation Oncology

Biography

Charles L. Limoli, Ph.D., is Vice Chair of Research and Academic Affairs in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, and the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Program of Public Health at the University of California, Irvine. Limoli received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California San Diego and completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the mammalian stress response to radiation and chemotherapy, with particular emphasis on the central nervous system and genomic instability.

Limoli has made substantial contributions to understanding radiation-induced cognitive dysfunction and developing therapeutic interventions. His laboratory demonstrated that cranial transplantation of human neural stem cells and stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles can reverse radiation- and chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment in preclinical models. More recently, his work has been instrumental in elucidating the mechanisms of FLASH radiotherapy, an ultra-high dose rate radiation delivery technique that spares normal tissue while maintaining tumor control. His research on FLASH has shown neuroprotective effects in both adult and juvenile animal models and has informed clinical translation efforts through multi-institutional collaborations.

Limoli received the Failla Award in 2025, the highest honor from the Radiation Research Society for lifetime research achievements in the radiation sciences. He was named an Inaugural Fellow of the Radiation Research Society in 2022 and served as President of the Society from 2016 to 2017. His work has been supported by NASA, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense. Limoli has directed multiple large-scale research programs, including a NASA Specialized Center of Research investigating the effects of space radiation on the central nervous system and an NCI Program Project focused on advancing FLASH radiotherapy for brain tumor treatment.

Return to top

Education

Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, University of California San Diego, 1994
B.Sc. in Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1984

Return to top

Distinctions

Failla Award, Radiation Research Society, 2025
Inaugural Fellow of the Radiation Research Society, 2022
Vice-President Elect, President Elect, President, Past President, Radiation Research Society, 2014-2018
NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1995-1997
NIH Postdoctoral Scholarship, 1994
Translational Scientist of the Year Award, Institute of Clinical and Translation Science (ICTS), 2014
Honorable mention, Basic Science Faculty Mentor of the Year, 2022
Graduate Fellowship, University of California, 1988-1994

Return to top

Areas of Expertise

Radiation Oncology
Genomic Instability Mechanisms
Neural Stem Cell Biology
Oxidative Stress Pathways
FLASH Radiotherapy
Space Radiation Neurotoxicity
Extracellular Vesicle Therapeutics

Recent Publications

Vozenin M.-C., Montay-Gruel P., Tsoutsou P., Limoli C.L., “Mechanisms, challenges and opportunities for FLASH radiotherapy in cancer” (opens in new tab), Nature Reviews Cancer, vol. 26, pp. 62-75, 2026.
Vozenin, M-C., Montay-Gruel, P., Tsoutsou, P., Limoli, C.L., “FLASH radiotherapy: A travel in matter and time to cure cancer” (opens in new tab), Nature Rev. Cancer, 2025.
Dickstein, D.L., Zhang R., Ru, N., Vozenin, M-C., Baulch, J.E., Acharya, M.M., Limoli, C.L., “Structural plasticity of pyramidal cell neurons measured after FLASH and conventional dose rate irradiation” (opens in new tab), Brain Structure and Function, vol. 230, no. 2, pp. 41, 2025.
Limoli C.L., Vozenin M.-C., Acharya M.M., “Preclinical Models for Assessing the Impact of Cranial Irradiation on Executive Function” (opens in new tab), Neuromethods, vol. 226, pp. 101-110, 2025.
Drayson, O.G.G., Montay-Gruel, P., Limoli, C.L., “Radiomics approach for identifying radiation-induced normal tissue toxicity in the lung” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 24256, 2024.
Drayson, O.G.G., Melemenidis, S., Katila, N., Viswanathan, V., Kramár, E.A., Zhang, R., Kim, R., Ru, N., Petit, B., Dutt, S., Manjappa, R., Ashraf, M.R., Lau, B., Soto, L., Skinner, L., Yu, A.S., Surucu, M., Maxim, P., Zebadua-Ballasteros, P., Wood, M., et al., “A multi-institutional study to investigate the sparing effect after whole brain electron FLASH in mice: reproducibility and temporal evolution of functional, electrophysiological, and neurogenic endpoints” (opens in new tab), Radiotherapy and Oncology, vol. 16, pp. 110534, 2024.
Smith, S.M., Ranjan, K., Hoover, B.K., Drayson, O.G.G., Acharya, M.M., Kramár, E.A., Baulch, J.E., Limoli, C.L., “Extracellular vesicles from gabaergic but not glutamatergic neurons improve neurological function following cranial irradiation” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 12274, 2024.
Vozenin, M-C., Loo Jr. B.W., Tantawi, S., Maxim, P., Spitz, D.R., Bailat., C., Limoli, C.L., “From ultra-high dose rate irradiation to FLASH radiotherapy: revolutionizing cancer treatment at the crossroads of physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine” (opens in new tab), Rev. Mod. Phys., vol. 96, pp. 035002:1-50, 2024.
Vozenin, M-C., Alaghband, Y., Drayson, O.G.G., Piaget, F., Leavitt, R.J., Allen, B.D., Doan, N-L., Rostomyan, T., Stabilini, A., Reggiani, D., Hajdas, W., Yukihara, E.G., Norbury, J.W., Bailat, C., Desorgher, L., Baulch, J.E., Limoli, C.L., “More may not be better: Enhanced spacecraft shielding may exacerbate cognitive decrements by increasing pion exposures during deep space exploration” (opens in new tab), Radiation Research, vol. 201, no. 2, pp. 93-103, 2024.
Vozenin M.-C., Loo B.W., Tantawi S., Maxim P.G., Spitz D.R., Bailat C., Limoli C.L., “FLASH: New intersection of physics, chemistry, biology, and cancer medicine” (opens in new tab), Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 96, 2024.
Badiyan, R., Montay-Gruel, P., Batra, A.S., Limoli, C.L., “Assessment of cardiotoxicity in mice following thoracic radiotherapy and systemic stem-cell derived extracellular vesicle treatments” (opens in new tab), J. Cancer Biol. & Res., vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1139, 2023.
Desai, R.I., Kangas, B.D., Luc, O.T., Solakidou, E., Smith, E.C., Dawes, M.H., Ma, X., Makriyannis, A., Chatterjee, S., Dayeh, M.A., Muñoz-Jaramillo, A., Desai, M.I., Limoli, C.L., “Complex 33-beam simulated galactic cosmic radiation exposure impacts cognitive function and prefrontal cortex neurotransmitter networks in mice” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 7779, 2023.
Limoli, C.L., Kramár, E.A., Almeida, A., Petit, B., Grilj, V., Baulch, J.E., Ballesteros-Zebadua, P., Loo Jr, B.W., Wood, M.A., Vozenin, M-C., “The sparing effect of FLASH-RT on synaptic plasticity is maintained in mice with standard fractionation” (opens in new tab), Radiotherapy and Oncology, vol. 186, pp. 109767, 2023.
Britten, R.A, Limoli, C.L., “New radiobiological principles for the CNS arising from space radiation research” (opens in new tab), Life, vol. 13, pp. 1293, 2023.
Alaghband, Y., Allen, B.D., Kramár, E.A., Zhang, R., Drayson, O.G.G., Ru, N., Petit, B., Doan, N-L., Wood, M.A., Baulch, J.E., Ballesteros-Zebadua, P., Vozenin, M-C., Limoli, C.L., “Uncovering the protective neurological mechanisms of hypofractionated FLASH radiotherapy” (opens in new tab), Cancer Research Communications, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 725-737, 2023.
Limoli C.L., Vozenin M-C., “Re-inventing radiobiology in the light of FLASH radiotherapy” (opens in new tab), Annual Review of Cancer Biology, vol. 7, pp. 1-21, 2023.
Allen, B.D, Alaghband, Y., Kramár, E.A., Ru, N., Petit, B., Grilj, V., Petronek, M.S., Pullman, C., Kim, R.Y., Doan, N-L., Baulch, J.E., Wood, M.A., Bailat, C., Spitz, D.R., Vozenin, M-C., Limoli, C.L., “Elucidating the mechanistic basis of the FLASH effect in the hypofractionated juvenile mouse brain” (opens in new tab), NeuroOncol., vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 927-939, 2023.
Allen B.D., Alaghband Y., Kramar E.A., Ru N., Petit B., Grilj V., Petronek M.S., Pulliam C.F., Kim R.Y., Doan N.-L., Baulch J.E., Wood M.A., Bailat C., Spitz D.R., Vozenin M.-C., Limoli C.L., “Elucidating the neurological mechanism of the FLASH effect in juvenile mice exposed to hypofractionated radiotherapy” (opens in new tab), Neuro Oncology, vol. 25, pp. 927-939, 2023.
Chmielewski, N.N, Limoli, C.L., “Characterizing sex-differences in mechanisms of taxane toxicity and resistance” (opens in new tab), Cancers, vol. 14, no. 14, pp. 3325, 2022.
Desai, R.I., Limoli, C.L., Stark, C.E., Stark S.M., “Can biomarker signatures from combined spaceflight stressors be used to inform risks to overall CNS health” (opens in new tab), Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev., vol. 138, pp. 104676, 2022.

Return to top

Most Cited Publications

Montay-Gruel, P., Acharya, M.M., Petersson, K., Alikhani, L., Yakkala, C., Allen, B.D., Ollivier, J., Petit, B., Goncalves, P.J., Syage, A.R., Nguyen, T.H., Baddour, A.A.D., Lu, C., Singh, P., Moeckli, R., Bochud, F., Germond, J-F., Froidevaux, P., Bailat, C., Bourhis, J., et al., “Long-term neurocognitive benefits of FLASH radiotherapy driven by reduced reactive oxygen species” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 116, no. 22, pp. 10943-10951, 2019.
W.F. Morgan, J.P. Day, E.M. McGhee, M.I. Kaplan, C.L. Limoli, “Genomic instability induced by ionizing radiation” (opens in new tab), Radiation Research, vol. 146, pp. 247-258, 1996.
Vozenin, M-C., Hendry, J.H., Limoli, C.L., “Biological benefits of ultra-high dose rate FLASH radiotherapy: Sleeping beauty awoken” (opens in new tab), Clinical Oncology, vol. 31, no. 7, pp. 407-415, 2019.
Christie, L-A., Acharya, M.A., Parihar, V.K., Nguyen, Martirosian, V., Limoli, C.L., “Impaired Cognitive Function and Hippocampal Neurogenesis Following Cancer Chemotherapy” (opens in new tab), Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 18, pp. 1954-65, 2012.
Spitz, D.R., Buettner, G.R., Petronek, M.S., St-Aubin, J.J., Flynn, R.T., Waldron, T.J., Limoli, C.L., “An integrated physico-chemical approach for explaining the differential impact of FLASH versus conventional dose rate irradiation on cancer and normal tissue responses” (opens in new tab), Radiotherapy and Oncology, vol. 139, pp. 23-27, 2019.
Acharya, M.M., Green, K.N., Baulch, J.E., Allen, B.D., Syage, A., Minasyan, H., Le, M.T., Kawashita, T., Giedzinski, E., Parihar, V.K., West, B.L., Limoli, C.L., “Elimination of microglia improves cognitive function following cranial irradiation” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 6, pp. 31545, 2016.
Parihar, V.K., Limoli, C.L., “Cranial irradiation compromises neuronal architecture in the hippocampus” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 110, pp. 12822-7, 2013.
Parihar, V.K., Allen, B., Tran, K.K., Macaraeg, T., Chu, E., Kwok, S., Chmielewski, N.N., Craver, B.M., Baulch, J.E., Acharya, M.M., Cucinotta, F.A., Limoli, C.L., “What happens to your brain on the way to Mars” (opens in new tab), Science Advances, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. e1400256, 2015.
Parihar, V.K., Allen, B.D., Caressi, C., Kwok, S., Chu, E., Tran, K.K., Chmielewski, N.N., Giedzinski, E., Acharya, M.M., Britten, R.A., Baulch J.E., Limoli, C.L., “Cosmic radiation exposure and persistent cognitive dysfunction” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 6, pp. 34774, 2016.
J.F. Ward, J.W. Evans, C.L. Limoli, P.M. Calabro-Jones, “Radiation and hydrogen peroxide induced free radical damage to DNA”, British Journal of Cancer, vol. 55, no. Suppl. VIII, pp. 105-112, 1987.

Return to top

Contact Information

Email: climoli@uci.edu

Phone: (949) 824-3053

Address: Irvine, CA, Irvine, CA 92697-2690

Return to top

This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 2/19/2026.