June 2017 - Foundation Partnering on Cancer Immunotherapy and More …

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Foundation Partnering to Advance Cancer Immunotherapy
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June 2017
 


The Focused Ultrasound Foundation and the Cancer Research Institute are establishing a partnership with the goal of advancing the development of new focused ultrasound (FUS) and cancer immunotherapy treatments. Both organizations recognize that the intersection of the latest developments in FUS therapy and cancer immunotherapy offers a highly promising opportunity for combination approaches to treat a variety of cancers.

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Foundation News

Report Details Focused Ultrasound’s Growth Worldwide

Each year, the Foundation produces a report outlining the state of focused ultrasound around the world. Read the 2017 State of the Field Report to learn about the increasing number of research sites and regulatory approvals, the dramatic upswing in first-in-human treatments, two indications dominating patient treatments worldwide, and the booming regulatory landscape. New this year, the report presents a longitudinal view of how the field has grown over time.

READ THE REPORT >

Webinar Highlights Focused Ultrasound's Potential for Pancreatic Cancer


Pancreatic cancer affects 350,000 patients per year, and focused ultrasound – used alone and in combination with other therapies – is being investigated to treat the actual cancer, as well as the pain associated with it. Dr. Joo Ha Hwang, Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology) at the University of Washington, recently visited the Foundation to discuss gaps in current therapies and the role focused ultrasound could play in treating this disease.

WATCH THE WEBINAR >

Skinner Art Exhibit Benefits Foundation

 

Artist and writer Peter Skinner recently donated the proceeds from his painting exhibit at Les Yeux du Monde gallery in Charlottesville to the Foundation. Skinner said, “I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on these paintings – in some cases 5 to 10 years. It's rewarding to contribute to the mission of the Foundation with your heart.”

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Foundation Staff Participates in Awareness Initiatives


June marks both Cancer Immunotherapy Month and Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. To show support for cancer immunotherapy research, the Foundation staff took part in the Cancer Research Institute’s #WearWhite campaign on June 16. Then, on June 21, the team participated in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Longest Day initiative.

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Research News

Meeting Report: ISTU 2017



A contingent from the Foundation recently traveled to Nanjing, China, for the 17th International Symposium for Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU). In addition to attending the academic sessions, the team met with focused ultrasound manufacturers and networked with research colleagues. After the symposium, Foundation chairman Neal F. Kassell, MD, was joined by development officer Jessica Lukens in Hong Kong and Taiwan to form new relationships with investors, government leaders, and philanthropists. While in Taiwan, they visited the headquarters of NaviFUS, a manufacturer, and toured Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

Deadline Extended for Lockhart Research Prize


The Foundation has established an annual $75,000 cash award that will be given to an investigator who demonstrates outstanding potential to contribute to advancing cancer treatment using focused ultrasound. The Andrew J. Lockhart Memorial Prize was established and funded by Andrew’s family and friends, with the hope that research can contribute to new therapies for solid cancers.

Applications are due July 31!


LEARN HOW TO APPLY OR NOMINATE >

2nd Quarter Research Awards



Frank Wolfram

Two proposals have been selected to receive Foundation funding in the 2nd quarter of 2017. James Keenan, CEO of Artenga, Inc., a Canadian life sciences company, will partner with Sunnybrook Research Institute and the University of Helsinki to investigate gene therapy in Parkinson’s disease. In Germany, Frank Wolfram, PhD, and his team at SRH Waldklinikum Gera have been funded to research treating lung cancer.

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Meeting Report: ASCO 2017


The annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology was held June 2-6 in Chicago. Researchers from Children’s National Healthcare, Celsion, and Philips presented a poster to describe their study using focused ultrasound to treat pediatric solid tumors. CarThera from Paris, France, presented a poster showing current data from their phase 1/2a study using pulsed ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier to deliver chemotherapy in patients with recurring glioblastoma.

Notable Student Research Awards


The Foundation strives to cultivate the next generation of researchers and scientists working in the field of focused ultrasound. We are proud to announce that four such young researchers, including former intern Guillaume Maimbourg and Foundation funded researcher Amirah Aly, have earned awards for their work. Meanwhile, another former Foundation intern, Changzhu Jin, has earned his PhD.

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Local Drug Delivery Plus Ablation Achieves Best Results in Tumor Model


A collaboration between scientists at Eindhoven University of Technology, Philips Research Eindhoven, and University Hospital of Cologne has revealed new data for using combination focused ultrasound treatments in a rhabdomyosarcoma rat tumor model. Recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the group compared various treatment protocols to determine the best therapeutic efficacy. The most promising results came from first using focused ultrasound hyperthermia to trigger delivery of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin via temperature-sensitive liposomes followed by focused ultrasound tumor ablation. READ MORE >

This research has been featured on DOTmed and MedicalXpress.

Foundation Funded Research Update – Alzheimer’s Antibodies



Cynthia Lemere

Due to promising initial results, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have extended their study using focused ultrasound to deliver anti-amyloid antibodies to the brains of older mice with Alzheimer’s disease. Cynthia A. Lemere, PhD, Nathan McDannold, PhD, and Qiaoqiao Shi, PhD, tested behavior, learning, memory, plaque burden, and safety for treatments given alone or in combination. To confirm their findings and increase statistical power, the team has received approval to add more mice to the study, now extended through November 2017. Will these data help determine the best timing and the most effective protocol for some day treating patients?

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Research Roundup


“Special Delivery” could be the theme for this month’s research highlights. Whether it is gene therapy or antibodies, brain disorders or bone growth, magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasound guidance, biomedical researchers are finding focused ultrasound to be the tool that enables therapeutic molecules to reach diseased cells like never before. The studies cover Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and nonunion bone fractures.

READ THE PAPERS >

JTU Article of the Month – Volumetric Thermometry in Brain Applications


Volumetric thermometry, or temperature monitoring, for transcranial focused ultrasound procedures requires accelerated imaging, but current methods don’t account for signal variations caused by the device’s water bath. To address this concern, scientists across multiple institutions collaborated to apply separate reconstructions for the images in the brain and the water bath to enable better temperature estimation. Will the new technique provide more accurate temperature readings?

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Industry News

Seattle Collaboration Creates HIFUPlex, a New Research System


Two Seattle-based companies, Verasonics, a leader in research ultrasound, and Sonic Concepts, Inc., an innovator of high-performance transducers, have collaborated to design and build a new ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound platform to advance biomedical research. The platform, called HIFUPlex, combines Verasonics’ Vantage systems with Sonic Concepts’ transducers and promises premium quality, innovation, and versatility.

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Medsonic Adds MR-Compatible Transducers to Product Line



Cyprus-based Medsonic has opened a product line: MR-compatible, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) transducers. The new transducers include a polished ABS enclosure and an MR-compatible matching network. Founded in 2004, Medsonic also produces pre-clinical MR-compatible robots for MR-guided focused ultrasound.

HistoSonics Presents Data at WCIO, Hires New Executives



In a June 7 press release, HistoSonics announced that they presented new pre-clinical data at the 2017 World Conference on Interventional Oncology (WCIO) held in Boston, MA. The four presentations on liver tumor ablation support the development of the company’s robotically assisted sonic therapy (RAST) for that indication. HistoSonics has also hired executives in the roles of Vice President of Clinical, Quality and Regulatory and Vice President of Global Strategic Development.

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Media Coverage
Med Beat: Women with Benign Breast Tumors Sought for Ultrasound Study on Roanoke.com 6/13/17

News from the AAN Annual Meeting: Pro and Con: Is Focused Ultrasound More Effective Than DBS for Parkinson's Disease? on NeurologyToday.com 6/8/17

Echotherapy: A Future Option for Benign Thyroid Nodule Symptoms? on Medscape.com 6/7/17

Theraclion Reaches New Milestones on BusinessWire.com 6/6/17

Brain-penetrating Nanoparticles Restore Neuron Function on MedicalPhysicsWeb.com 6/5/17

Phase 1 Trial Begins Evaluating Safety of Focused Ultrasound in Alzheimer’s Patients on AlzheimersNewsToday.com 6/5/17

Pre-Clinical Research in Thunder Bay into Combination Cancer Treatments Possibly a World First on NetNewsLedger.com 5/26/17

Tiny Bubbles and a Bit of Gene Therapy Heal Major Bone Fractures in Pigs on Science Magazine.com 5/17/17 [video]
Upcoming Events
July 14-16, 2017 The 3rd Yangtze International Summit of Minimally-invasive and Noninvasive Medicine (ISMINIM), Chongqing, China

July 30-August 3, 2017 59th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), Denver, CO
(Includes an Ultrasound Symposium Workshop)

September 6-9, 2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Washington, DC

October 26-27, 2017 4th European Symposium on Focused Ultrasound Therapy, Leipzig, Germany (Abstract Deadline July 1, 2017)
See the full calendar and submit your event >