Biomedical Ultrasonics and Cavitation Laboratory

The Biomedical Ultrasonics and Cavitation Laboratory (BUCL) is directed by Kevin Haworth, PhD and located in the interdisciplinary Cardiovascular Center (Room 3950) at the University of Cincinnati.  BUCL is a member of the Image-guided Ultrasound Therapeutics Laboratories. 

Our focus is on the development of ultrasound and cavitation for the improvement of human health. We have a particular focus on acoustic droplet vaporization and  passive cavitation imaging.  

BUCL is always looking for highly motivated individuals to contribute to our research mission. Please contact us if you are interested in joining us. 

News and Announcements

2023

Israa Malik Wins Communication Award: Israa Malik received an Excellence in Research Communication award based on her poster presentation at the UC Undergraduate Scholarly Showcase.

Haworth elected fellow of Acoustical Society of America: Kevin Haworth was elected a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America "[f]or contributions to the development of passive cavitation imaging and therapeutic ultrasound methods.”

2022

Benton et al. publish original research article on oxygen scavenging: Rachel Benton and collegues in BUCL published an article entitled "Impact of Perfluoropentane Microdroplets Diameter and Concentration on Acoustic Droplet Vaporization Transition Efficiency and Oxygen Scavenging" in the journal Pharmaceutics. 

Anwesa Basa wins SURF Award: Anwesa Basa, a rising 3rd year in the UC Medical Sciences program won the first place award for her presentation of her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship presentation as part of the American Heart Association funded program. 

Nour Al Rifai wins Departmental Trainee Research Award: Nour Al Rifai, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in BUCL, was awarded a the Trainee Award for research from the Department of Internal Medicine based on her proposal "Assessing oxygen scavenging using PFC nanoemulsion in cardiac reperfusion injury." 

Kate Stone wins UC Sigma Xi Grant-in-aid of Research: Kate Stone, a graduate student in BUCL, was awarded a Grant-in-aid of Research based on her proposal "Determining magnitudes of oxygen scavenging from whole blood with acoustic droplet vaporization to treat myocardial reperfusion injury." 

Kate Stone wins URC Graduate Student Summer Stipend: Congratulations to Kate Stone, a PhD Candidate through the Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine graduate program, on being one of four College of Medicine graduate students to win a URC summer research stipend.

2021

Fischesser et al. Publish Review Article: Demetria Fischesser and colleagues in BUCL have published an open access review article on using controlled reperfusion to prevent reperfusion injury. 

Stone Joins BUCL: Kateryna Stone, a graduate student in the Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine program has joined BUCL for her doctoral studies. Her studies will focus on oxygen scavenging in the presence of hemoglobin.

Rachel Benton Receives Acceptance to Attend Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine: Rachel Benton was accepted into the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, the founding institution of osteopathic medicine in the world. Congratulations to Rachel for her outstanding work not just in BUCL but throughout her time at UC! 

Haworth Receives UC Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award: Kevin Haworth was selected as the 2021 Sigma Xi Young Investigator by the UC Chapter.

Al Rifai Joins BUCL: Following completion of her doctoral studies under Nicolas Taulier in the Laboratoire D'Imagerie Biomédicale at Sorbonne University, Nour Al Rifai has joined BUCL as a postdoctoral research fellow. Her studies will focus on emulsion manufacturing techniques and understanding the risk of gas embolization from acoustic droplet vaporization.

Fischesser Joins BUCL: Following completion of her doctoral studies under Jeffery Molkentin at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Demetria Fischesser has joined BUCL as a postdoctoral research fellow. Her studies will focus on oxygen scavenging in whole blood using acoustic droplet vaporization.

2020

Ultrasound-mediated Oxygen Scavenging Patent Issued: A core technology developed in BUCL is now patented in the United States. 

BUCL Research Highlighted by UC: The lab's research on inhibiting reperfusion injury was highlighted by the UC news service.

Haworth Elected to Fellowship: Kevin Haworth was elected to fellowship within the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine in recognition of his research activities and service to the society.

Haworth Elevated to Senior Membership: In recognition of his research activity, Kevin Haworth was elevated to a Senior Member in IEEE, the world's largest engineering professional society.

2019

Mercado-Shekhar Receives Faculty Appointment: Karla Mercado-Shekhar, a postdoctoral research fellow in BUCL has been appointed an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology - Gandhinagar where she will jointly run the Medical Ultrasound Engineering (MUSE) Laboratory.

Haworth Promoted to Associate Professor: Based on his research, teaching, and service work at the university of Cincinnati, Kevin Haworth was promoted to Associate Professor of Internal Medicine.

Mercado-Shekhar Publishes Manuscript on ADV: Karla Mercado-Shekhar had her manuscript on oxygen scavenging and ADV in various biological fluids published by Ultrasonics Sonochemistry.

Abby Clark to Attend Medical School at Wright State in Fall 2020: Abby Clark was accepted into the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State University as part of their Early Decision Program.  Congratulations to Abby for her outstanding work not just in BUCL but throughout her time at UC! 

BUCL to Collaborate with Owens Laboratory on Alzheimer's Disease Study: The Biomedical Ultrasonics and Cavitation Laboratory will collaborate with the Owens laboratory on a study investigating the role of PAR2 in Alzheimer's Disease.

Abby Clark Presents at OPS: Abby Clark, a fourth-year medical sciences major presented her work on microfluidic droplet manufacturing at the 2019 Ohio Physiological Society meeting. The work was performed as part of Abby's summer WISE program.

Haworth Receives Lizzi Award from ISTU: Kevin Haworth received the Fredric Lizzi Early Career Award from the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound for his contributions to acoustic droplet vaporization and passive cavitation imaging.

Rachel Benton and Newsha Jahanpanah Present: Rachel Benton and Newsha Jahanpanah both presented their research at the 177th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Louisville, Kentucky.

Newsha Jahanpanah Receives Grant:  Newsha Jahanpanah received a Grant-in-Aid of Research from the National office of Sigma Xi. The funds will be used to further her investigations on how acoustic droplet vaporization can change blood oxygen saturation levels.

2018

Newsha Jahanpanah Receives Young Award:  Newsha Jahanpanah was awarded a Robert W. Young Award for Undergraduate Student Research in Acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America in October 2018.  Newsha wrote a proposal to investigate changes in blood oxygen saturation due to acoustic droplet vaporization.

Rohan Srivastava and Rachel Benton Present: Rohan Srivastava, a rising senior in the medical sciences undergraduate program and Rachel Benton in the neurobiology undergraduate program successfully presented their summer research projects Summer Capstone Symposium.

Ishan Anand Receives Schwartzman Scholarship:  Ishan Anand was selected as a 2019 Schwartzman Scholar and will pursue a fully-funded graduate degree at Tsinghua University.

Karla Mercado-Shekhar Receives Two Travel Awards to Present at the Acoustical Society of America Meeting: Karla Mercado-Shekhar, PhD received a Young Investigator Travel Grant from the Committee on Women in Acoustics and an Early Career Travel Award from the ASA to present her abstract on "Clot stiffness is inversely correlated with rt-PA thrombolytic efficacy in vitro" at the 175th Meeting of the ASA.

Haili Su Presents at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine: Haili Su, MD, PhD presented her work on oxygen scavenging using ADV at the 2018 American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Convention.

Haworth Presents at Fields Institute: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD provided an invited lecture on passive cavitation imaging at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences for a workshop on High Intensity Focused Ultrasound: Mathematical Modeling and Clinical Applications.

Haworth Re-elected to American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Bioeffects Committee: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD was re-elected to the AIUM Bioeffects Committee to serve a three year term from 2018-2021.

2017

Karla Mercado-Shekhar Receives Early Career Travel Award: Karla P. Mercado-Shekhar was awarded a travel award by the Acoustical Society of America to support the presentation of her work on the effect of fluid parameters on ADV at the Acoustics '17 meeting.

Holland and Haworth Awarded Subcontract to Study Ultrasound-Mediated Drug Delivery: Continuing on a long-standing collaboration, Christy K. Holland, PhD and Kevin J. Haworth, PhD will be working with David D. McPherson, MD at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and EKOS Corp. to establish an ultrasound-mediated drug delivery system using echogenic liposomes and an EkoSonic(R) ultrasound system for reducing neointimal hyperplasia following arterial stent deployments. The five year project will culminate with first-in-human trials.

Holland and Haworth Awarded Subcontract to Study Histotripsy: Kenneth B. Bader, PhD was awarded an NIH R01 to study histotripsy as a treatment for deep vein thrombosis.  This grant builds on the results obtained at the University of Cincinnati from a Focused Ultrasound Foundation grant.  Christy K. Holland, PhD and Kevin J. Haworth, PhD will lead supporting work in Cincinnati on pre-clinical studies and image-guidance of the therapy.

Haworth Co-Chairs Session at 2017 AIUM Convention: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD and Meaghan O'Reilly, PhD  co-chaired a special interest session on Monitoring at the 2017 AIUM Convention.

2016

Austin Wanek Receives Robert W. Young Award:  Austin Wanek received a Robert W. Young Award for Undergraduate Student Research in Acoustics from the Acoustical Society of America.

Kevin Haworth Awarded NIH K25 Mentored Quantiative Research Development Grant: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD, has received a four year NIH K25 Mentored Quantitative Research Development Award to investigate oxygen scavenging in myocardial  reperfusion injury.

Karla Mercado Awarded NIH Diversity Supplement:  Karla Mercado, PhD has received a 2 year award to study clot stiffness with ultrasound and its relationship to lytic susceptibility. This research will support Christy K. Holland's NIH-NINDS R01 on ultrasound assisted thrombolysis for stroke therapy.

Vincent Huang Wins First Place in the UC SURF Poster Competition:  Vincent Huang's summer research on the safety of acoustic droplet vaporization won one of two first place awards, out of over 200 posters, at the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Poster Symposium.

Haworth Elected as President Elect of UC Chapter of Sigma Xi: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD was elected to serve as the Vice President and President-Elect of the UC Chapter of Sigma Xi for the 2016-2017 academic year.  Haworth will serve as President of the chapter during the 2017-2018 academic year.

Research Update, Histotripsy Standards and Lysis of Deep Vein Thrombosis: With the eventual goal to use focused ultrasound to dissolve chronic deep vein blood thrombi, Kenneth B. Bader, PhD and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati recently completed a study to develop standards to regulate microbubble cloud formation during histotripsy pulses.

2015

Haworth Awarded AHA Scientist Development Grant:  Kevin J. Haworth, PhD, has received a four year American Heart Association Award to investigate ultrasound-mediated oxygen scavenging to inhibit reperfusion injury.

Bader and Haworth Co-Chair Scientific Session at ASA: Kenneth B. Bader, PhD and Kevin J. Haworth, PhD co-chaired a scientific session on ultrasound-enhanced thrombolysis at the 170th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

Haworth Elected to American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Bioeffects Committee: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD was elected as a member of the AIUM Bioeffects Committee to serve a three year term from 2015-2018.

2014

Kenneth Bader receives Focused Ultrasound Foundation Award: The Focused Ultrasound Foundation awarded Kenneth B. Bader, PhD a grant to study histotripsy in collaboration with the FDA.  BUCL will provide expertise in passive cavitation imaging.

Haworth and Kripfgans Co-Chair Scientific Session at ASA: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD and Oliver D. Kripfgans, PhD co-chaired a scientific session on cavitation monitoring at the 168th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.

2013

Haworth Receives Conference Attendance Grant:  The abstract provided by Kevin J. Haworth, PhD and colleagues for presentation at the Joint Meeting of the 21st International Congress on Acoustics and the Acoustical Society of America was selected for an ICA Young Scientist Award to support Dr. Haworth's presentation at the meeting.

Haworth Awarded NIH-CTSA KL2 Grant: Kevin J. Haworth, PhD received a 2 year NIH-CTSA KL2 award to investigate the potential of acoustic droplet vaporization as a therapy for ischemic stroke.