A turnkey research platform to accelerate clinical translation of focused-ultrasound (FUS) oncology therapies

Abstract Focused ultrasoundFUSis an early stagenoninvasive therapeutic technology with great potential in oncologyFUS could potentially offer either an alternative or complementary strategy to existing cancer treatment approaches such as surgeryradiationand immunotherapyWhile FUS technology has some initial tractionthere are still many unknowns about how best to deliver FUS and mechanisms of actionThe work proposed herein will result in a platform that will accelerate the translational pace of this promising treatment modalitySonoVol is proposing to build and validate a novel FUS guidancetreatmentand assessment platform for small animalsThe system will be deployed in SonoVol s Vegaa robotically controlled volumetric scanning device for high throughput preclinical imagingUnlike conventional FUS research solutionsthe newD image guidedTherUSPlatform will ensure accurate and repeatable FUS dose delivery irrespective of user or sonographer expertiseTherUS will accelerate FUS clinical translation by lowering the technological barriers which limit widespread accessputting the technology directly in the hands of the broader market of cancer biologists and immunologists to develop cutting edge anticancer treatment strategiesincluding immunotherapy approachesThis work will proceed via three stagesFirstwe will develop hardware to allow accurate and repeatable dose delivery via multiple FUS transducers within the same studyTwo transducers with center frequencies ofandMHz will be installed in a robotic carriage and the pressure fields will be mapped to allow spatial localization with the guidance and follow up transducersSecondwe will develop software to facilitate treatment planning and confirmation of dose deliveryWe will create a module to allow registration to previous timepointsas well as dose confirmation algorithms within SonoVol s software for thermometry and cavitation detectionFinallywe will compare accuracyrepeatabilityand reproducibility of TherUS against a conventional top down FUS system and prove in vivo feasibility with an ablation study in a mouse model of breast cancer Project Narrative Focused ultrasoundFUSis a promising new technology that allows physicians to treat cancer without a single incisionWhile preliminary data has been encouragingFUS has only been approved for a few specific indications and preclinical FUS research has numerous challengesincludinglimited access to the technologyinability to accurately measure dosesand reproducibilityWe propose to build and validate a novel turnkey robotic FUS platform to accelerate clinical translation of FUS therapiesThis device will enable users to conduct high qualityreproducible experimentswidening the accessibility of the technology to non imaging experts including cancer biologists and immunotherapy researchers and drug developers