Ronan Smith

Dr Ronan Smith

Grant Funded Researcher (A): ReXIL X-ray

Adelaide Medical School

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I am a physicist working as a postdoctoral researcher within the Cystic Fibrosis Airway Research Group (CFARG)/ Respiratory X-ray Imaging Laboratory (REXIL). The majority of my work is focused on X-ray Velocimetry (XV), a novel technique for measuring lung function using X-ray imaging. This project is in collaboration with 4DMedical, who commercialised the technique. My work focusses on understanding the spatial and temporal changes seen in XV imaging in our preclinical and clinical trials. Cystic Fibrosis is the main disease we look at, but we are also investigating uses in emphysema, MPS I and lung cancer.My PhD was in developing methods for dark-field X-ray Imaging, a technique which allows us to see 'texture' in samples through the scattering of X-rays. I am working to apply these methods in respiratory research, as well as other areas such as materials science. I am interested in all methods of imaging, particularly dynamic X-ray imaging and CT, and have a range of projects available to students from undergraduate to PhD. Please get in touch if you are interested in collaborating or looking for a student project.

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2025 Houx, J. L., Fletcher, D. M., Leonardi, A., Williams, K. A., Walker, N., Alvarez-Borges, F., . . . Ruiz, S. (2025). Coupled X-ray imaging/diffraction reveals soil mechanics during analogous root growth.. npj Biological Physics and Mechanics, 2(1), 17-1-17-8.
    DOI
    2025 How, Y. Y., Reyne, N., Croughan, M. K., Cmielewski, P., Batey, D., Costello, L. F., . . . Morgan, K. S. (2025). In vivo 4D x-ray dark-field lung imaging in mice. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, PP, 1.
    DOI
    2025 Smith, R., Thomas, C., Nguyen, P., Badiei, A., Eikelis, N., Nilsen, K., . . . Donnelley, M. (2025). Visualising ventilation changes following endobronchial valve placement with x-ray velocimetry functional lung imaging. Physics in Medicine & Biology, 70(13), 8 pages.
    DOI
    2025 Reyne, N., Smith, R., Cmielewski, P., Eikelis, N., Nilsen, K., Louise, J., . . . Donnelley, M. (2025). Functional Lung Imaging Identifies Peripheral Ventilation Changes in ꞵ-ENaC Mice. Respirology, 30(4), 335-345.
    DOI Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC1
    2024 Reyne, N., Smith, R., Cmielewski, P., Eikelis, N., Lawrence, M., Louise, J., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Assessment of respiratory mechanics and X-ray velocimetry functional imaging in two cystic fibrosis rat models. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 10 pages.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS5 Europe PMC6
    2024 Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., McCarron, A., Smith, R., Schneider-Futschik, E., Eikelis, N., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Corrigendum: Effect of elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor on nasal potential difference and lung function in Phe508del rats(Front. Pharmacol., (2024), 15, (1362325), 10.3389/fphar.2024.1362325). Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15, 1428213.
    DOI Scopus2
    2024 Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., McCarron, A., Smith, R., Eikelis, N., Pirakalathanan, P., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Effect of elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor on nasal potential difference and lung function in Phe508del rats. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15, 1-7.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS7 Europe PMC8
    2024 Smith, R., Morgan, K. S., McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Reyne, N., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2024). Ultra-fastin-vivodirectional dark-field x-ray imaging for visualising magnetic control of particles for airway gene delivery. Phys Med Biol, 69(10), 105025-1-105025-11.
    DOI Scopus2 WoS1 Europe PMC1
    2023 De Marco, F., Savatović, S., Smith, R., Di Trapani, V., Margini, M., Lautizi, G., & Thibault, P. (2023). High-speed processing of X-ray wavefront marking data with the Unified Modulated Pattern Analysis (UMPA) model.. Optics express, 31(1), 635-650.
    DOI Scopus22 WoS15 Europe PMC5
    2023 Galvez-Hernandez, P., Smith, R., Gaska, K., Mavrogordato, M., Sinclair, I., & Kratz, J. (2023). The effect of X-ray computed tomography scan parameters on porosity assessment of carbon fibre reinfored plastics laminates. Journal of Composite Materials, 57(29), 4535-4548.
    DOI Scopus7 WoS8
    2023 Jimenez-Martin, C., Maes, V., Rosini, S., Smith, R., Sinclair, I., Mavrogordato, M., . . . Kratz, J. (2023). Observations of Wrinkling in Non-Crimp Fabrics during Multi-Ply Stack Forming using In situ XCT Scanning. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 176, 107880.
    DOI Scopus4 WoS3
    2022 Smith, R., De Marco, F., Broche, L., Zdora, M. -C., Phillips, N. W., Boardman, R., & Thibault, P. (2022). X-ray directional dark-field imaging using Unified Modulated Pattern Analysis.. PloS one, 17(8), 1-12.
    DOI Scopus15 WoS15 Europe PMC7
    2020 Zdora, M. -C., Zanette, I., Walker, T., Phillips, N. W., Smith, R., Deyhle, H., . . . Thibault, P. (2020). X-ray phase imaging with the unified modulated pattern analysis of near-field speckles at a laboratory source.. Applied optics, 59(8), 2270-2275.
    DOI Scopus17 WoS15 Europe PMC2
    - Johnston, J., Donnelley, M., Smith, R., Louise, J., Grunert, J., La Vanda, C., & Tai, A. (n.d.). Real-World Outcomes after Initiation of Elexacaftor/Tezacaftor/Ivacaftor in an Adolescent Cohort with Cystic Fibrosis.

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2024 Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., Smith, R., Eikelis, N., Nilsen, K., Mall, M., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). X-ray Velocimetry detects peripheral lung ventilation defects in ßENaC mice. In RESPIROLOGY Vol. 29 (pp. 166). WILEY.
    2023 Smith, R., Boardman, R., & Thibault, P. (2023). Speckle-based directional dark-field x-ray imaging with a liquid-metal-jet source. In PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON X-RAY MICROSCOPY – XRM2022 Vol. 2990 (pp. 040014). Hsinchu, Taiwan: AIP Publishing.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 De Marco, F., Savatović, S., Riedel, M., Smith, R., Di Trapani, V., Margini, M., . . . Thibault, P. (2023). High-speed analysis of speckle-based imaging data with unified modulated pattern analysis (UMPA). In AIP Conference Proceedings Vol. 2990 (pp. 040011). Online: American Institute of Physics.
    DOI
    2022 Martin, C. J., Smith, R., Mavrogordato, M., Rosini, S., Maes, V., Sinclair, I., . . . Kratz, J. (2022). TIME RESOLVED IN-SITU CT SCANNING OF NON-CRIMP FABRIC FORMING. In ECCM 2022 - Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Composite Materials: Composites Meet Sustainability Vol. 2 (pp. 1052-1059). Lausanne, Switzerland: Composite Construction Laboratory (CCLab).
    DOI Scopus1

  • Datasets
    Year Citation
    - Smith, R., Carron, A. M., Donnelley, M., Parsons, D., Morgan, K., Reyne, N., & Cmielewski, P. (n.d.). Directional Dark-Field Imaging Data of Magnet Assisted Airway Treatment Delivery.
    DOI
    - Smith, R., Donnelley, M., Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., & Parsons, D. (n.d.). X-ray Velocimetry and flexivent measurements of Cystic Fibrosis rat models before and after a localised insult to the lung.
    DOI
    - Smith, R., Donnelley, M., Reyne, N., & Mall, M. A. (n.d.). X-ray Velocimetry and Flexivent data for a cohort of the Beta-ENaC-TG mouse model of Cystic Fibrosis.
    DOI
    - Smith, R., Donnelley, M., Nguyen, P., & Badiei, A. (n.d.). X-ray Velocimetry and CT images of healthy sheep undergoing endobronchial valve placement and removal.
    DOI
    - Smith, R., Donnelley, M., Reyne, N., ASSELIN-LABAT, M. -L., & Batey, D. (n.d.). X-ray Velocimetry, CT, Flexivent and Histology dataset of mice with lung tumours..
    DOI
    - Smith, R., Donnelley, M., Parkinson-Lawrence, E., & Orgeig, S. (n.d.). X-ray Velocimetry and Flexivent data for a cohort of mice with Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) disease.
    DOI

  • Preprint
    Year Citation
    2025 Smith, R., Reyne, N., Batey, D., Eikelis, N., Asselin Labat, M. -L., & Donnelley, M. (2025). Mapping Lung Cancer Ventilation Dynamics: A Pilot Mouse Study Using Functional Imaging and Lung Mechanics.
    DOI
    2024 Reyne, N., Smith, R., Cmielewski, P., Eikelis, N., Nilsen, K., Louise, J., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Functional lung imaging identifies peripheral ventilation changes in mice with muco-obstructive lung disease.
    DOI
    2024 How, Y. Y., Reyne, N., Croughan, M. K., Cmielewski, P., Batey, D., Costello, L. F., . . . Morgan, K. S. (2024). In vivo 4D x-ray dark-field lung imaging in mice.
    2024 Le Houx, J., Fletcher, D. M., Leonardi, A., Williams, K., Walker, N., Alvarez-Borges, F., . . . Ruiz, S. (2024). Illuminating root-soil mechanics.
    DOI
  • Position: Grant Funded Researcher (A): ReXIL X-ray
  • Phone: 81617241
  • Email: ronan.smith@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Women's and Children's Hospital, floor 6
  • Org Unit: Adelaide Medical School
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