Dr. Yaoheng Yang receives an Assistant Professor position from USC
Congratulations to Dr. Yaoheng Yang! He will start his faculty position as an Assistant Professor at the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) of the University of Southern California on 1/1/2025. Check out his cool lab website: Yang BioAcoustic Lab
The Wall Street Journal’s podcast features sonobiopsy
Drs. Hong Chen and Eric Leuthardt discuss sonobiopsy on The Wall Street Journal’s podcast. They explained how it works and how it can benefit patients. Dr. Elisa Knofagou, who was Dr. Chen’s postdoc advisor when she was at Columbia University, is also featured. Here is the link to the podcast and a brief description: WSJ’s […]
Dr. Chen receives the 2024 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award
Congratulations to Dr. Chen on receiving the 2024 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award! This award recognizes faculty members who demonstrate exceptional mentorship to trainees. Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award (OFMA) | Office of Postdoctoral Affairs | Washington University in St. Louis (wustl.edu)
AhSonogenetics: a new frontier in brain neuromodulation
The Chen team, led by Yaoheng Yang and former postdoc Zhongtao Hu, has recently developed a new technology called Airy-beam holographic sonogenetics, or AhSonogenetics. This revolutionary technology utilizes the Airy beam-enabled binary acoustic metasurface (AB-BAMs) to acoustically modulate neurons. AB-BAMs is a 3D-printed holographic device that can flexibly manipulate ultrasound beams. The use of AB-BAMs […]
Dingyue wins ASA Student Poster Competition
Congratulations to Dingyue (Doris) Zhang for placing 2nd in the Student Poster Competition at the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). She received this award for her poster presentation on the ‘Evaluation of sonobiopsy feasibility and safety in a mouse model of diffusive intrinsic pontine glioma’. Amazing job Dingyue!
Ultrasound noninvasively delivers immunotherapy to the brain
In 2023, the Chen lab, led by graduate student Siaka Fadera, demonstrated noninvasive delivery of an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) to the brain using focused ultrasound combined with microbubbles. This study was performed in a large animal model and demonstrated the feasibility and safety of opening the blood brain barrier using focused ultrasound to deliver […]
Chih-Yen Chien receives BME Outstanding Dissertation Award
Congratulations to an esteemed member of the lab, Chih-Yen Chien, for receiving her doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering! Chih-Yen defended her thesis, titled ‘Passive Acoustic Detection for Focused Ultrasound Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Opening: Transitioning from Mice to Pigs to Humans’, on April 18th. Chih-Yen was also selected as a winner of the BME Outstanding Dissertation […]
A new doctor in town — Dr. Lu Xu
Congratulations to one of our lab’s brilliant and talented members, Lu Xu, for receiving his doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering! Lu defended his thesis, titled ‘Develop and Optimize Clinical System of Focused Ultrasound-enabled Liquid Biopsy (Sonobiopsy) for Brain Cancer Diagnosis’, on April 24th and received outstanding remarks from his peers and mentors. Lu will go […]
Quality assurance protocol developed for focused ultrasound technique
Dr. Hong Chen and her team have been utilizing focused ultrasound with microbubbles to open the blood-brain barrier for drug delivery or biomarker retrieval, but lacked a strategy to ensure the safety and consistency of their treatment. To address this, the team, which includes doctoral student Chih-Yen Chien, developed a quality assurance strategy that incorporates […]
Dr. Hong Chen Named Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors
Dr. Hong Chen has been named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). She is being recognized as an academic inventor and emerging leader in her field, who has demonstrated achievements in patents, licensing and commercialization and has produced “technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare […]