We are excited to continue the ISTU On-Air webinar series in 2025. These webinars are designed to promote knowledge of Therapeutic Ultrasound and increase discussion among the ISTU community. The Education Committee, led by Tanya Khokhlova, Ph.D., is actively working on the programming for the webinar series.
Our next webinar will be held on April 17 / 18, 2025 depending upon your local time. This webinar will be a "Rising Scientists in Therapeutic Ultrasound" special session featuring Neuromodulation topics. This series provides postdocs and early career scientists (Asst Prof.) a platform to share their work with our society.
This session will feature Alisa Krokhmal (University College London/Moscow State University), Théo Lemaire, Ph.D. (New York University) and Mack Yang (University of Southern California).
This session will be moderated by Charles F. Caskey, Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.
Registration for this event is required. The Webinar Series will be recorded and available to members for later review. Confirmation of your registration and the Zoom Conference Link Info will be emailed to all registered attendees prior to the meeting.
This webinar will be broadcast live at the following local times:
- 8:00 - 9:00 (West Coast, USA/Canada)
- 11:00 - Noon (East Coast, USA/Canada)
- 16:00 - 17:00 (UK)
- 17:00 - 18:00 (Continental Europe)
- 23:00 - Midnight (China)
- Midnight - 1:00 (Korea and Japan), Friday, April 18, 2025
Lecture Title: A comparative study of experimental and simulated ultrasound beam propagation through cranial bones.
Alisa Krokhmal was born in Ufa, Russia. She graduated from the Physics Faculty at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in 2018 after completing her studies in acoustics. She then pursued a PhD at MSU, defending her thesis in 2022 on "Positioning Objects Using Acoustic Radiation Force in Biofabrication Applications." From 2023 to 2024, she worked as a research fellow at University College London, further expanding her expertise in biomedical acoustics and transcranial ultrasound. Currently, Dr. Krokhmal is a research scientist at Physics Faculty, MSU (since 2024). Her work focuses on advancing acoustic methods for medical applications, including the study of focused ultrasound propagation, acoustic holography, numerical modeling of ultrasound in heterogeneous media, and transcranial ultrasound. Her research contributes to improving ultrasound-based therapies and diagnostic techniques.
Talk title: Deconstructing the circuit mechanisms of transcranial ultrasound stimulation
Dr. Théo Lemaire is a postdoctoral researcher at New York University School of Medicine. He received a PhD in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where he developed an ensemble of computational models to study the cellular mechanisms of ultrasound neuromodulation. He joined the Neural Interface Engineering Lab of Dr. Shy Shoham for his postdoc, where he combines ultrasound stimulation with high-precision imaging tools to study the circuit-level mechanisms of ultrasound neuromodulation in awake rodent models.
Lecture Title: Induction of a hibernation-like state by ultrasound
Dr. Yaoheng Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He completed his Ph.D. training in Dr. Hong Chen’s lab at Washington University in St. Louis, where he was recognized with the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. Prior to that, he earned his Bachelor’s and M.Phil. degrees from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Yang’s research integrates acoustic physics, electrical engineering, and genetic engineering to tackle key challenges in ultrasound neuromodulation. His notable contributions include:
1. Innovating artificial hibernation technology through non-invasive ultrasound neuromodulation;
2. Developing sonogenetics to enable cell-type-specific neuromodulation.
3. Developing preclinical and clinical focused ultrasound systems to improve ultrasound targeting precision.
His work has been published in Nature Metabolism, PNAS, Radiology, and other leading journals. Dr. Yang has received four international awards, including the Nadine Barrie Smith Award. His research has also been featured in major media outlets such as Science, The New York Times, TIME, and The Guardian. Beyond the lab, Dr. Yang is committed to science communication and education. His collaborative content on online platforms has garnered over 3 million views.
About the Moderator
Charles Caskey’s research focuses on diagnostic and therapeutic uses of ultrasound, particularly in image-guided therapy applications. He received his doctoral degree for studies about the bioeffects of ultrasound during microbubble-enhanced drug delivery under Dr. Katherine Ferrara at the University of California at Davis in 2008, and in 2018, he received the Fred Lizzi Early Career Award from the International Society of Therapeutic ultrasound. He currently leads the Laboratory of Acoustic Therapy and Imaging at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science where his laboratory focuses on developing new uses for ultrasound, spanning neuromodulation, drug delivery, and functional imaging.
2025 Webinar Schedule
- January 15 / 16, 2025: Ying Meng, M.D., Ph.D. from Sunnybrook Research Institute and the University of Toronto presenting: "Sonobiopsy: Using Focused Ultrasound to Aid in Diagnosis and Disease Monitoring"
- February 27 / 28, 2025: Maxime Lafond, Ph.D. from LabTAU, Inserm presenting: "Ultrasound Therapy in the Eye"
- March 20, 2025: James Choi, Ph.D. from Imperial College London presenting: "Microbubble Dynamics in Brain Microvessels — Insights into how ultrasound-driven microbubbles alter the blood-brain barrier permeability"
- April 17, 2025: "Rising Scientists in Therapeutic Ultrasound" Special Session
- May 15, 2025: Christy K. Holland, Ph.D. from University of Cincinnati presenting "Sonothrombolysis"
- September 25, 2025: Adam Maxwell, Ph.D. from Virginia Tech presenting: "Burst Wave Lithotripsy"
- October 16, 2025: Nobuki Kudo, Ph.D. from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan presenting: "High-Speed Photography of Cavitation Bubbles"
- December 11, 2025: "Rising Scientists in Therapeutic Ultrasound" Special Session