SBIR Phase II: Transcranial Dynamic Focused Ultrasound for the Non-Invasive Opening of the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB)

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to enable new therapeutic strategies to treat brain diseases such a brain cancer. Treating brain diseases is challenging partly because of the existence of an anatomical structure called the blood-brain barrier. This barrier prevents the entry of almost all therapeutic molecules into the brain tissue from the blood. This has led to a devastating impact on the patients and society as a whole. As an example, for glioblastoma, the most common form of primary malignant brain tumors, the five-year survival rate is only 6.8%. Impact and commercial potential include increased treatment options where few or none are available and improved patient outcomes, all with a system that is patient-friendly and designed to cause minimal disruption to the existing treatment workflows. Additionally, the advancement of this project will provide a convenient tool for drug developers to study and develop new drugs without the need to develop a special carrier to transport drugs into the brain. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project involves designing and building a prototype version of a system that can deliver therapies to the brain in a non-invasive and non-intrusive manner. The performance of this system to accurately deliver to regions of interest within the brain will be measured and characterized in a test environment mimicking that of a human head. This project will advance a prototype for use in both clinical and research settings. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.