News

Dr. Hong Chen and Dr. Eric Leuthardt, MD have laid the foundation for a revolutionary technique that noninvasively surveys the molecular and genetic information of brain tumors. This technique, termed sonobiopsy, uses focused ultrasound and microbubbles to precisely and accurately target a brain tumor lesion, temporarily disrupt the blood brain barrier at the target region, […]

The Chen lab recently received two NIH awards to fund their research on ultrasound combined with genetics for treatment of brain disorders. One of the awards — a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke — will fund the team’s transformative Sonogenetics 2.0 research, […]

Dingyue (Doris) Zhang received her first best poster award at the 15th International Conference on Ultrasound Engineering for Biomedical Applications (IC-UEBA). This award was given to the best three posters during the conference poster sessions. Congratulations to Dingyue on this wonderful achievement!

Some animals have an extraordinary ability to conserve energy by going into torpor, a physiological state marked by reduced body temperature and metabolic activity, which enables them to survive adverse environmental conditions such as harsh weather or lack of food. Hong Chen’s team, led by Yaoheng (Mack) Yang, demonstrated safe and noninvasive induction of torpor-like […]

Among more than 1,500 poster presentations at the 2023 ASGCT annual meeting, Dezhuang (Summer) Ye’s poster won the Outstanding Poster Award. The title of her poster presentation was “Focused ultrasound-mediated intranasal delivery for AAV delivery to targeted brain regions with minimal systemic exposure”.

Like the lymphatic system in the body, the glymphatic system in the brain clears metabolic waste and distributes nutrients and other important compounds. Impairments in this system may contribute to brain diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases and stroke. Dezhuang (Summer) Ye in collaboration with the team found a noninvasive and nonpharmaceutical method to influence glymphatic […]

Congratulations to Dr. Yaohang (Mack) Yang for winning the BME PhD Outstanding Dissertation Award at WashU! This award is given to recognize a comprehensive body of independent scholarship that significantly advances the discipline. Yaohang’s thesis work has undoubtedly advanced the field of sonogenetics and neuromodulation. Congratulations for your amazing achievements!

POSITION SUMMARY We are actively looking for highly motivated PhD students, postdocs, and staff scientists to join our dynamic and collaborative lab situated at Washington University Medical School. Our lab is generously funded by the NIH and is dedicated to developing innovative tools for modulating neuron activities, diagnosing brain diseases, and revolutionizing their treatment. Our […]

The Hong Chen lab is developing a noninvasive method for release and detection of biomarkers characteristic of neurodegenerative disorders. Tau proteins in the brain are characteristic of several neurodegenerative disorders, and the Chen Ultrasound lab, along with collaborators, have found that using focused-ultrasound-mediated liquid biopsy, a method known as sonobiopsy, in a mouse model released […]

A total of $3.2 million fund is awarded to Drs. Leuthardt and Chen for five years in support of their clinical study of an ultrasound-mediated blood-based liquid biopsy technique for noninvasive molecular diagnosis of glioblastoma. Glioblastoma patients will be recruited to evaluate the feasibility and safety of this technique. Developing a noninvasive technique to diagnose […]