"Non-invasive drug delivery to the brain using focused ultrasound"

About:

The brain is the only organ in our body that has its own security system: the blood-brain barrier. This barrier keeps harmful substances out by controlling what enters and exits our brain. However, it also prevents over 98% of drugs and imaging agents from entering, including those that could treat and help diagnose currently incurable brain diseases, such as brain tumours, Alzheimer?s and Parkinson?s disease.

Focused ultrasound is a non-invasive technology that can temporarily and locally open the blood-brain barrier, allowing drugs and imaging agents to enter the brain. It is used in combination with microbubbles (0.5-10 µm), clinically approved as ultrasound contrast agents, that are injected intravenously into the bloodstream together with the drug or imaging agent of interest. These microbubbles will only oscillate when they reach the region where the ultrasound is focused, creating mechanical forces that allow the blood-brain barrier to temporarily open and for drugs or imaging agents to enter the brain.

In this talk, I will show you how very short pulses of ultrasound can deliver a variety of compounds to targeted regions of the brain, including liposomes, gold nanoparticles, proteins and small-molecule drugs.

Bio:

Dr Sophie V Morse is a Research Fellow in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London and leads the Ultrasound Cell Stimulation laboratory. Her research interests include the development of therapeutic ultrasound technologies to noninvasively deliver drugs and imaging agents to the brain and to stimulate brain cells for the treatment of brain diseases.

Following her Master of Research in Biomedical Imaging from King?s College London in 2016, she obtained her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London, developing a focused ultrasound system to deliver drugs more efficiently and safely to the brain to treat brain diseases.

She has won numerous awards for her work, including Top 50 Women in Engineering in the UK, Gold Medal in Engineering at the STEM for Britain event in the UK Parliament and Young Investigator Awards from the British and European Ultrasound societies.

Hosted by María José Alonso' s Group.

Register in advance at the link provided and you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Please note that this link provided should not be shared with others; it is unique to you.

Certificates will be provided upon request to cimus.xestion [at] usc.es, except for justified reasons.