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

Dezhuang Receives Young Investigator Award & Bracco Women in Science Award

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 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

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 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!

Chen Lab Develops New Practical Method for Generating Airy Beams

Chen Lab Develops New Practical Method for Generating Airy Beams
Led by Zhongtao Hu, the Chen lab recently developed a unique technique for generating ultrasound waves that can self-bend. The team designed and 3D printed a flexible and versatile tool known as Airy beam-enabled binary acoustic metasurfaces (AB-BAMs) for ultrasound beam manipulation. They then demonstrated the capability of AB-BAMs in water, as depicted in the […]

Chen Lab Retreat 2022

Chen Lab Retreat 2022
The Chen Ultrasound Lab had an eventful past weekend as they journeyed to Ridgedale, MO for their annual lab retreat. During the retreat, lab members participated in team building activities such as hiking through Table Rock Lakeshore Trail, relaxing at Moonshine Beach, and participating in a science-themed trivia game night. The team has plenty of […]

Zhongtao Received Poster Award at The 2022 Gordon Conference

Zhongtao Received Poster Award at The 2022 Gordon Conference
Zhongtao Hu received a Poster Award at the 2022 Gordon Conference on In Vivo Ultrasound Imaging. He presented on his design and 3D printing of the Airy Beam-enabled Binary Acoustic Metasurfaces (AB-BAMs). This tool enables flexible and versatile ultrasound beam manipulation, including a sharply focused, tunable, steerable beam, which is useful for various ultrasound applications. […]

WUSEF Students Join Chen Lab For Summer 2022

WUSEF Students Join Chen Lab For Summer 2022
Two students, Natalia Alonzo (left) and Camila Maneiro (right), have joined the Chen lab for summer 2022. These undergraduate students are part of WashU’s Summer Engineering Fellowship (WUSEF) program, a program designed to encourage exceptional STEM students from underrepresented backgrounds to participate in engineering research. We are very excited to have Natalia and Camila this summer […]

Hong Chen Receives $750K To Develop Wearable Sensors

Hong Chen Receives $750K To Develop Wearable Sensors
Dr. Hong Chen has received a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Office of Naval Research to fund research on the development of wearable ultrasound sensors for the detection of cavitation in human brain. To read more about this, please visit here. Congratulations to the Chen lab team on the new grant!

Congratulations Dr. Chris Pacia!

Congratulations Dr. Chris Pacia!
Dr. Chris Pacia defended his thesis in April and has successfully earned his PhD from WashU! Chris has been an invaluable member of the lab since he joined and he is very proud of the work he accomplished these past few years. Chris will begin his next chapter as an Associate Consultant at Triangle Insights […]