Researchers at Virginia Tech (VT) and the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine recently announced the grand opening of their state-of-the-art Animal Cancer Care and Research Center in Roanoke, which will perform focused ultrasound studies and treatments among a large array of other modalities and services.

“One of the main goals of our lab is to defeat cancer using, yes, bubbles,” said Eli Vlaisavljevich, PhD, of the VT College of Engineering. Dr. Vlaisavljevich and his team are partnering with oncology clinicians at the Roanoke center to conduct several pilot studies that use histotripsy – a type of focused ultrasound that uses microbubbles to create a non-thermal destruction of tissue – to treat various forms of cancer.

According to the press release, “Instead of a local dignitary cutting a ribbon or a popular politician delivering a rousing speech, the new clinical and research facility was inaugurated by an 11-pound domestic shorthaired cat named Kokomo, the first pet to set paw in the new center as a clinical patient.”

Importantly, Virginia Tech has also developed a new partnership with Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, a Focused Ultrasound Foundation Center of Excellence. The two groups will partner to study pet cancers that also occur in children, including certain types of brain cancer.

The news of the new Center in Roanoke coincided with the Foundation’s 7th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound, during which the Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, gave a keynote address about the impact of focused ultrasound in Virginia. See the Keynote Address >

Read the Press Release >
Listen to Coverage on National Public Radio >