Foundation scientists recently returned from a productive trip to Korea, where they made presentations and expanded our collaborative network. John Snell, PhD, Brain Program Technical Director and current and past Foundation fellows Dong-guk Paeng, PhD, and Jean-Francois Aubry, PhD spent a week speaking at two universities and two conferences. Dr. Paeng shared his country, national cuisine, and culture with the others.
Sunday, May 10
Jeju National University (JNU) & Hospital
The team spent two and a half days in Jeju at JNU meeting faculty and students working in various aspects of acoustics research in the Biomedical Engineering Program in the College of Medicine.
Prof. Min Joo Choi and his laboratory are studying the fundamental mechanisms and various applications of therapeutic ultrasound and cavitation, such as ultrasonic field characterization, tissue mimicking phantoms for thermal lesions generated by focused ultrasound, and shock wave lithotripsy and histotripsy. Dong-guk’s laboratory is pursuing ultrasound for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in vascular diseases.
John Snell spoke with a group of 15-20 JNU researchers along with clinicians and medical students about MR-guided focused ultrasound and current applications in the brain.
Wednesday, May 13
Severance Hospital, Yonsei University, Seoul
In Seoul, they spoke with Dr. Jin-woo Chang’s group about the status and near future of brain applications for MR-guided focused ultrasound.
Thursday, May 14
Acoustical Society of Korea (ASK) at Pukyong National University in Busan
A quick trip from Seoul to Busan on Thursday morning via high speed train brought the team to the ASK conference at Pukyong National University.
John Snell gave an invited presentation to introduce MR-guided focused ultrasound and its applications in the brain. The 200 attendees included professors and industry researchers as well as graduate students from various acoustical specialties, such as biomedical ultrasound, underwater acoustics, and audio engineering.
Friday, May 15
Korean Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (KSUM), Coex Center, Seoul
A physics breakout session with Jean-Francois Aubry on ultrasound-guided and John Snell on MR-guided focused ultrasound was held at this well-attended medical (predominantly diagnostic) ultrasound conference. John Snell spoke about brain applications, why MR-guidance is integral to these indications, and how MR-guidance is evolving to monitor and control new focused ultrasound bioeffects in the near future. Jean-Francois gave an overview of how ultrasound guidance works, including high speed plane wave imaging, US thermometry, and US elastography. About 20 or more attended the session, including a well-mixed group of radiologists, ultrasound physicists, and engineers.
Professor Tae-kyong Song chaired the session as a President of Korea Medical Ultrasound Link, which jointly organized the physics session with the KSUM. Dr. Song was involved in starting Alpinion and Samsung Medicine. He is a professor at Sogang University in Seoul, and he and his colleagues have one of the biggest ultrasound groups in Korea.