Welcome to the Chen Ultrasound Laboratory! Our research laboratory combines engineering, biology, and medicine to develop innovative focused ultrasound techniques to improve the lives of patients with brain diseases.
Our team is currently searching for graduate students, postdocs, technicians, or staff scientists who are interested in joining us. For further details on this opportunity, kindly contact Dr. Chen via email at hongchen@wustl.edu.
Recent news
Summer wins Outstanding Poster Award at the American Society of Gene + Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting
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”.
Our glymphatic paper is published in PNAS
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 […]
Yaoheng Yang Wins BME PhD Thesis Award
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!
We are hiring!
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 […]
Focused ultrasound-mediated liquid biopsy detects biomarkers of neurodegenerative disorders
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 […]
Chen Ultrasound Lab receives R01 from NCI in collaboration with Dr. Eric Leuthardt
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 […]
Dezhuang Receives Young Investigator Award & Bracco Women in Science Award
Dezhuang (Summer) Ye recently received the Young Investigator Award at the 8th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound. This award recognizes outstanding research by scientists-in-training in the field of focused ultrasound. Dezhuang was awarded for her work on ultrasound enabled incisionless brain gene delivery and ultrasound manipulation of the glymphatic system. At the symposium, Dezhuang also […]
Chinwendu Chukwu Receives Poster Award at WashU’s BME PhD Retreat
Chinwendu (Chinwe) Chukwu received an “Early Stage” PhD Student award at WashU’s 2022 BME PhD retreat. This award was given to early-stage doctoral candidates who presented promising research during the retreat’s poster sessions. Congratulations to Chinwe on this wonderful achievement!
Chen Lab Develops Noninvasive FUS-Mediated Intranasal Delivery Method
Led by Dr. Dezhuang (Summer) Ye, the Chen lab recently developed a new method for delivering genes to the brain, called Focused Ultrasound-mediated Intranasal Delivery (FUSIN). Dr. Ye and her team recently found that the FUSIN-delivered genes had comparable or better outcomes than existing methods while minimizing systemic effects on other organs. Dr. Ye’s study […]
Yaoheng Yang Receives SfN’s 2022 Trainee Professional Development Award
Yaoheng (Mack) Yang has been selected as a recipient of a 2022 Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) from the Society of Neuroscience (SfN). This award is given to scientists who have demonstrated great merit and strength in their research. Congratulations, Mack, on this wonderful achievement!