Washington University in St. Louis has been recognized as a Focused Ultrasound Center of Excellence by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.
Hong Chen, a professor of biomedical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering and of neurosurgery at WashU Medicine, and Jan Kubanek, an associate professor of psychiatry in the Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Health at WashU Medicine, help lead the effort, and more than 30 faculty members across 11 departments contribute to focused ultrasound research.
The “Center of Excellence” designation recognizes WashU’s cross-disciplinary achievements in focused ultrasound research. “This designation reflects the power of collaboration at WashU,” Chen said.
Focused ultrasound uses ultrasound energy guided by real-time imaging to treat tissue deep in the body without incisions or radiation. It is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, liver tumors, uterine fibroids, pain from bone metastases, osteoid osteoma, the prostate and chronic low back pain. Dozens of additional indications are approved outside of the U.S. The technology is in various stages of research and development for more than 180 diseases. Researchers at WashU conduct multisite clinical trials to obtain FDA approval for some of these diseases.
Read more on the McKelvey Engineering website.
