SLAS Technology Auto-Commentary Now Accessible Until August 17

New SLAS Technology Auto-Commentary, “Peripheral Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (pFUS): New Competitor in Pharmaceutical Markets?” Now Accessible for 60 Days

Oak Brook, IL — In a just-released SLAS Technology auto-commentary, “Peripheral Focused Ultrasound Stimulation (pFUS): New Competitor in Pharmaceutical Markets?” lead researchers on a recent study on noninvasive sub-organ ultrasound stimulation published in Nature Communications, highlight their use of focused ultrasound stimulation within peripheral organs to activate autonomic nerve circuits for its potential therapeutic effects. They also address how this technique may lead future clinical applications and solutions.

In the original study on animal models, Victoria Cotero, Ph.D., John Graf, Ph.D., Jeffrey Ashe, M.S, and Chris Puleo, Ph.D., (General Electric) along with Kevin J. Tracey, M.D., (Feinstein Institute for Medical Research), Daniel P. Zachs, M.S., and Hubert H. Lim, Ph.D., (University of Minnesota), modulated two different and potentially therapeutic targets — a neuroimmune connection in the spleen (that modulates blood cytokine concentrations) and a nutrient sensory pathway within the liver (that modulates metabolism). This research, along with a companion study in Nature Communications utilizing ultrasound stimulus on the spleen to reduce disease severity, highlight the growing evidence that ultrasound energy may be used to perform peripheral neuromodulation.

Though challenges remain, the use of ultrasound to directly modulate neurophysiological systems therapeutically may provide alternatives to traditional pharmaceuticals and could help solve current issues facing the emerging bioelectric medical field. However, altering the current pharmaceutical paradigm will mean medical researchers will need to develop a new understanding of how traditional drug concepts (such as dose and pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics) relate to the parameters, protocols and outcomes of stimulation technology.

This SLAS Technology auto-commentary can be accessed at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2472630319849383 through August 17. For more information about SLAS and its journals, visit www.slas.org/publications/slas-technology/.

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SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international community of 19,000 professionals and students dedicated to life sciences discovery and technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

SLAS Technology: 2017 Impact Factor 2.632. Editor-in-Chief Edward Kai-Hua Chow, Ph.D., National University of Singapore (Singapore). SLAS Technology (Translating Life Sciences Innovation) was previously published (1996-2016) as the Journal of Laboratory Automation (JALA).

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