By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Harvard Researcher Increasing Brain Regions That Can be Targeted by FUS
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Technology > Medical Innovations > Harvard Researcher Increasing Brain Regions That Can be Targeted by FUS
Medical InnovationsTechnology

Harvard Researcher Increasing Brain Regions That Can be Targeted by FUS

EllenMcKenna
EllenMcKenna
Share
7 Min Read
SHARE

FUSF Research Award recipient: Nathan McDannold, Harvard Medical School, USA        

Nathan McDannold, PhD, started working in focused ultrasound research as a physics graduate student in 1996. “I was looking for a medical physics project and sort of stumbled into the field,” he recalls.

FUSF Research Award recipient: Nathan McDannold, Harvard Medical School, USA        

Nathan McDannold, PhD, started working in focused ultrasound research as a physics graduate student in 1996. “I was looking for a medical physics project and sort of stumbled into the field,” he recalls.

More Read

If It’s Unnecessary, Who Cares Which Stent Is Better?
In Praise of FDA Collaboration: The Cardiac Safety Example
How Technology Is Facilitating Mental Health Connections
What Healthcare Professionals can Learn from Sales People
Medical Technology Redefined by Forces and Innovation

Fifteen years later, McDannold has established himself as one of the world’s leading focused ultrasound researchers. “What has kept me interested has been the promise of this technology to significantly help a large number of patients, the technical challenges involved, and the large number of applications that are possible with FUS,” he says. “The two main applications that I’m working on right now are using ultrasound instead of surgery to ablate tumors and targeted drug delivery.”

McDannold, who heads the Focused Ultrasound Laboratory in the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, became the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation’s first Research Award recipient in 2007. At the time, he was investigating how to ablate tumors in very deep brain structures without overheating the skull or damaging the brain and nerves around it.  His research goal was to make focused ultrasound lesions right next to the optic nerve while preserving its function.

Building on research performed by others, McDannold and his collaborator, Natalia Vykhodtseva, PhD, demonstrated that brain tissue could be ablated without any heat using low power focused ultrasound pulses to activate microbubbles injected into the circulation. “This really focuses the energy to the micro-bubbles themselves instead of the rest of the tissue,” McDannold explains. “We’re very happy about the results but we need to really look at this over a long period of time and make sure that we’re not causing any more subtle damage that’ll show up later.”

McDannold says the study is now complete and that a manuscript is under development. “We have submitted a proposal to the NIH to continue this project,” he adds.

2011 Research Award

Last month, McDannold received his second FUSF Research Award totaling $112,002, which will enable him to advance his work even further. His co-investigator is Margaret Livingstone, PhD, a professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. McDannold discusses that project and more in the interview below.

Q. What is your overall research goal, and how do your first and second FUSF research awards fit into this big picture?

McDannold:  We are trying to expand the areas in the brain that can be targeted by FUS. Brain tumors and other disorders are ideal targets for a noninvasive technique like FUS. Most of our laboratory’s current research is dedicated to the use of FUS for ablation and targeted drug delivery in the brain. Both of the projects that have been funded by the FUSF are part of this goal. In the first, we hoped to find a way to target tumors or other structures near the skull base, where surgery can be extremely challenging. In the current proposal, we will try a slightly different approach that also can be used to expand regions in the brain that can be safely targeted by FUS.

Q. How will your new project advance the field of MR-guided FUS? What “chokepoint” will it address or eliminate?

McDannold: We hope to expand the number of patients with brain tumors or other central nervous system (CNS) diseases that can be treated with FUS instead of having to undergo surgery or other invasive procedures. Current technology limits FUS to targets that are distant from the skull. We hope that by using microbubbles, that we can ablate tissue with less energy. We hope that we can answer a lot of questions about the safety of this approach by testing the method using a realistic animal model and a FUS device made for patient use.

Q. What types of patients could benefit most from the treatments that emerge from your research?

McDannold: Brain tumor patients, primarily.

Q. What has FUSF funding meant to you and your work?

McDannold: The first FUSF gave us the opportunity to obtain pilot data that we hope will be turned into a long-term project. We probably would not have been able to obtain this funding through other mechanisms. Our new award is aimed at answering a pressing question about the safety of a particular FUS approach for brain tumor ablation. We had a unique opportunity to do this work, and the FUSF was able to quickly get us the funding needed to do this work before this opportunity passed.

Overall, it is fantastic to have dedicated funding for FUS projects. It is a way to obtain funding for completely new projects that, if successful, can be turned around for funding by other sources. It helps us move quickly to answer pressing questions that are holding up the progress of the field overall.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

McDannold: While my FUSF awards have been for work that is far from ready for clinical tests, my collaborators’ experience with the foundation on FUSF clinical trials has been extremely positive, and those efforts are most appreciated. Also, the workshops put on by the FUSF are fantastic and get better every year.

TAGGED:brain tumorsfocused ultrasoundFUSmedical innovations
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

a woman walking on the hallway
6 Easy Healthcare Ways to Sit Less and Move More Every Day
Health
September 9, 2025
Clinical Expertise
Healthcare at a Crossroads: Why Leadership Matters More Than Ever
Global Healthcare
September 9, 2025
travel nurse in north carolina
Balancing Speed and Scope: Choosing the Nursing Degree That Fits Your Goals
Nursing
September 1, 2025
intimacy
How to Keep Intimacy Comfortable as You Age
Relationship and Lifestyle Senior Care
September 1, 2025

You Might also Like

toilet of the future
DiagnosticsHome HealthMedical InnovationsTechnologyWellness

Toilet of the Future Winner Combines Ergonomics with Screening System That Tests for Disease, Pregnancy

December 23, 2013

Wearables and Seizures? Interview with John Hixson of UCSF

April 7, 2014

Cell Therapy and Cardiovascular Disease

August 19, 2011
medical
BusinessFinanceGlobal HealthcareHealth careHospital AdministrationTechnology

Sustainable Tips For Financial Management In Medical Practice

April 1, 2020
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?