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
Dingyue wins ASA Student Poster Competition
Congratulations to Dingyue (Doris) Zhang for placing 2nd in the Student Poster Competition at the 186th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). She received this award for her poster presentation on the ‘Evaluation of sonobiopsy feasibility and safety in a mouse model of diffusive intrinsic pontine glioma’. Amazing job Dingyue!
Ultrasound noninvasively delivers immunotherapy to the brain
In 2023, the Chen lab, led by graduate student Siaka Fadera, demonstrated noninvasive delivery of an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) to the brain using focused ultrasound combined with microbubbles. This study was performed in a large animal model and demonstrated the feasibility and safety of opening the blood brain barrier using focused ultrasound to deliver […]
Chih-Yen Chien receives BME Outstanding Dissertation Award
Congratulations to an esteemed member of the lab, Chih-Yen Chien, for receiving her doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering! Chih-Yen defended her thesis, titled ‘Passive Acoustic Detection for Focused Ultrasound Induced Blood-Brain Barrier Opening: Transitioning from Mice to Pigs to Humans’, on April 18th. Chih-Yen was also selected as a winner of the BME Outstanding Dissertation […]
A new doctor in town — Dr. Lu Xu
Congratulations to one of our lab’s brilliant and talented members, Lu Xu, for receiving his doctorate degree in Biomedical Engineering! Lu defended his thesis, titled ‘Develop and Optimize Clinical System of Focused Ultrasound-enabled Liquid Biopsy (Sonobiopsy) for Brain Cancer Diagnosis’, on April 24th and received outstanding remarks from his peers and mentors. Lu will go […]
Quality assurance protocol developed for focused ultrasound technique
Dr. Hong Chen and her team have been utilizing focused ultrasound with microbubbles to open the blood-brain barrier for drug delivery or biomarker retrieval, but lacked a strategy to ensure the safety and consistency of their treatment. To address this, the team, which includes doctoral student Chih-Yen Chien, developed a quality assurance strategy that incorporates […]
Dr. Hong Chen Named Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors
Dr. Hong Chen has been named a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). She is being recognized as an academic inventor and emerging leader in her field, who has demonstrated achievements in patents, licensing and commercialization and has produced “technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare […]
Dr. Hong Chen Ranked 11th Nationwide for NIH funding
The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) has published rankings of institutions, departments, and investigators based on the funding they receive from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). We are pleased to announce that Dr. Hong Chen is ranked 11th nationally among all Principal Investigators in Neurosurgery. Additionally, the WashU Neurosurgery ranked No. 5 in NIH […]
Our lab relocated to the Neuroscience Research Building
Our laboratory is embarking on a new chapter in 2024 by relocating to the Neuroscience Research Building — a 609,000-square-foot, 11-story facility — at 4370 Duncan Ave. The university invested $616 million to construct the building, the largest and most expensive in the medical school’s history. The investment was driven by leaders’ belief that the […]
Our hibernation work reported by NIH NIBIB Science Highlights
NIH NIBIB funds the work of more than 5,000 researchers around the country and internationally. Being chosen as an NIH NIBIB Science Highlight is a prestigious recognition. The article “Ultrasound can briefly induce a hibernation-like state in animals” features our innovative research on ultrasound-induced artificial torpor. The piece presents ultrasound as a groundbreaking approach that […]
Cordance Receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for Sonobiopsy
In just 5 years, our team turned the revolutionary Sonobiopsy technology from concept to commercialization amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This technology provides a noninvasive solution to brain disease diagnostics through the use of focused ultrasound for release of disease-specific biomarkers from brain to blood, which can further be detected and characterized using liquid-based biopsy. Cordance […]