PROTEUS: A Physically Realistic Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Simulator-Part I: Numerical Methods.

Ultrasound contrast agents have been used as vascular reporters for the past 40 years. The ability to enhance vascular features in ultrasound images with engineered lipid-shelled microbubbles has enabled break-throughs such as the detection of tissue perfusion or super-resolution imaging of the microvasculature. However, advances in the field of contrast-enhanced ultra-sound are hindered by experimental variables that are difficult to control in a laboratory setting, such as complex vascular geometries, the lack of ground truth, and tissue nonlinearities.

Sonoprinting of nanoparticle-loaded microbubbles: Unraveling the multi-timescale mechanism.

Ultrasound-triggered microbubble-assisted drug delivery is a promising tool for localized therapy. Several studies have shown the potential of nanoparticle-loaded microbubbles to effectively enhance the delivery of therapeutic agents to target tissue. We recently discovered that nanoparticle-carrying microbubbles can deposit the nanoparticles in patches onto cell membranes, a process which we termed 'sonoprinting'.