Therapeutic Ultrasound Neuromodulation of Peripheral Nerves

For over 8 years I worked at an industrial research site on projects focused on understanding and applying the fundamental science behind ultrasound neuromodulation. As I begin a new chapter of my research career in an academic position, I’ll discuss the original development of the ultrasound neuromodulation tools, and original uses in pre-clinical models of chronic inflammatory and metabolic diseases. I’ll point out key/fundamental first experiments that led to new strategic understanding of non-invasive peripheral neuromodulation, highlight scientific insights that were key in developing proof-of- concept clinical trials, and then discuss remaining questions and unknowns that need to be addressed for continued development of this promising new technology. 

Chris has been an Associate Professor (Biomedical Engineering) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY for the past year. Chris was originally a RPI graduate (Biomedical Engineering, ’03) and then received a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 2009. Chris’ graduate work was in the BioMEMS lab of Jeff Wang and focused on combining microfluidics and single molecule imaging techniques for diagnostics. Since graduating, Chris has worked at General Electric’s corporate research center on both private and government healthcare related projects. For the last 8 years at GE Chris pioneered ultrasound-based neuromodulation therapies with his teams, applying these new tools to combat chronic diseases (such as type 2 diabetes) in both pre-clinical and clinical trials. Chris is an inventor on 39 granted patents and has 50+ peer-reviewed publications. As a principal investigator, Chris has led GE, NIH, DTRA, DARPA, Navy/MTEC, and BARDA-funded teams and his ultrasound therapy team recently won the phase 1 and 2a NIH Neuromod prize.