Key Points
- The Foundation’s Research Awards Program initiated six projects from October through December.
- Researchers are continuing to develop focused ultrasound treatments for primary and metastatic cancers.
Six new Foundation-funded preclinical projects began during the fourth quarter of 2025. Three of the studies fall under the Veterinary Program, where the findings will be translatable to also help people with lymphoma (blood cancer) and osteosarcoma (a bone tumor). One of the two Cancer Immunotherapy Program projects also seeks to find solutions for osteosarcoma, and the other is centered on serious metastatic cancers. Finally, the Brain Tumors Program launched a new project for the treatment of glioblastoma (a fatal brain tumor).
“In 2025, the Foundation’s Veterinary Program achieved several key milestones while advancing focused ultrasound applications in animal health and comparative medicine,” said program director Philip Bergman, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVIM-Oncology. “Our growing pipeline of innovative research in companion animals underscores the program’s commitment to expanding noninvasive treatment options for veterinary patients while generating translational evidence that may inform both animal and human therapies.”
“These awards illustrate how the Foundation’s funding model connects innovative focused ultrasound research across disease areas and programs to drive progress toward safe, effective treatments for patients,” said Joe Kilroy, PhD, the Foundation’s managing director of Science and Technology.
The guidelines for submitting a funding application to the Foundation are described below.
Cancer Immunotherapy Program (2)
A Rational Comparison of Thunder, Fire, and Lightning for Igniting an Anticancer Immune Response in Solid Tumors led by Matthew DeWitt, PhD, at the University of Virginia*
For this project, researchers will compare and combine three different types of focused energy – ultrasound heating, ultrasound mechanical destruction, and electricity – to kill cancer cells and boost immune therapies. The study will evaluate how ablation technologies affect immune response and test combination approaches. If successful, such ablation techniques could be used to treat metastatic cancers like those of the breast and pancreas.
A Preclinical Murine Model Investigation of the Synergistic Effect of Histotripsy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Anti-PD1 for Osteosarcoma led by Alayna Hay, PhD, at the Virginia Tech Focused Ultrasound Center*
This project aims to determine the optimal synergistic histotripsy dose for inducing both local and systemic immune effects when combining histotripsy with immunotherapy. Its goals are to prevent metastatic disease and improve survival in a mouse model of osteosarcoma. The theory is that combining histotripsy with an immune checkpoint inhibitor anti-PD1 immunotherapy could wake up inactivated immune cells.
*These projects were funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a result of the Foundation’s advocacy efforts.
Brain Tumors Program (1)
Optimizing Timing of Therapeutic Delivery with MB-FUS-Mediated BBB Opening for Enhancing Drug Delivery into Residual Invasive Regions of Glioblastoma (GBM) led by Nikhil Pandey, PhD, at the University of Maryland
This project seeks to determine the optimal time to deliver medicine – before, during, or after the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is opened with microbubbles and focused ultrasound (MB-FUS) – in patients with GBM. With a goal of helping more medicine reach the tumor site and the residual invasive regions around the GBM itself, researchers will study the influence of acoustic emissions dosing during MB-FUS BBB opening.
Veterinary Program (3)
Feasibility and Safety of Neoadjuvant Focused Ultrasound Treatment of Canine Nodal B and T Cell Lymphoma led by Rachel Kovak, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology), at VCA Dallas Animal Specialty Hospital
With the goal of creating safer, less toxic lymphoma treatment options for dogs, researchers will conduct a clinical trial to test the safety, feasibility, and accuracy of using ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound to treat nodal, intermediate-to-large T and B cell lymphoma. A secondary goal of the study, which will enroll 20 dogs, is to determine the optimal features and functionality needed to commercialize a focused ultrasound veterinary device.
Ablation-Induced Immune Remodeling in Canine Lymphoma led by Nikolaos Dervisis, DVM, at Purdue University
This clinical trial will enroll 10 dogs with large T- or B-cell lymphoma that have not yet received any other treatment. To evaluate safety and feasibility, the dogs will undergo peripheral lymph node ablation with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). The researchers will also evaluate whether the HIFU treatment induces any local or systemic immune effects.
High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) for Tumor Microenvironment Modulation in Canine Osteosarcoma: A Functional Imaging-Based Evaluation led by Nikolaos Dervisis, DVM, at Purdue University
Researchers will enroll 10 dogs with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) into this clinical trial, which seeks to discover the molecular, cellular, and imaging-based biomarkers of an immune response to high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation. Using a treat-and-resect protocol, the primary goal is to collect special imaging scans and blood tests to determine what these biomarkers can reveal about the tumor microenvironment and immune effects. The theory is that HIFU may make the dog’s immune system more aware of cancer. The treatment may also help reduce pain.
Applicant Guide
The Foundation’s Research Funding Applicant Guide describes its research priorities, two-part application process, what happens after a funding decision is made, and a Q&A on how to write a Letter of Intent (or “LOI”).