Engineering Newsletter

Elisa Konofagou | Biomedical Engineering

Watch a video interview of Prof. Konofagou talking about her research — Photograph by Eileen Barroso

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that two-thirds of adults underwent medical tests in the last few years that exposed them to radiation and, in some cases, a higher risk of cancer. Elisa Konofagou, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and radiology, is pioneering new uses for an imaging technology that is radiation free, less expensive than CT scans and MRIs, yet just as effective: ultrasound. Moreover, she is going beyond ultrasound’s traditional application as a diagnostic tool, using it to treat diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.

In the area of oncology, Konofagou is developing a tool that could identify and destroy tumors without the need for surgery. Her technology, called harmonic motion imaging, uses ultrasound to probe soft tissue in search of abnormal growths. “You’re basically knocking on different parts of the organ until you detect a different amplitude in one particular location,” she says. She has found that ultrasound can distinguish benign from cancerous tumors and that its beam can be aimed with extreme precision to detect and ablate, or destroy, the abnormality.

If proven effective, the technique could be used in inoperable cancers of the brain, prostate, pancreas, and kidneys. She and Columbia breast surgeon Kathie-Ann Joseph plan to test harmonic motion imaging and ablation within the next five years in patients with benign breast tumors who would otherwise have to undergo painful surgery.

In the area of neurology, Konofagou is deploying ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier to help treat patients with diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. Currently, physicians have few good options when it comes to treating these patients. Their choices include direct injection—taking a needle and sticking it deep into the brain to deliver medicine—or IV drugs. While a small percentage of the latter can cross the blood-brain barrier, they fl ow across the entire brain, not just the diseased areas, causing, in some cases, severe side effects.

The technique Konofagou has pioneered sends ultrasound waves through a millimeter-specific brain region and the intact skull, causing that part of the blood-brain barrier to open. Medicine would be injected by IV and would reach only its intended target. “The idea is to use this in conjunction with systemically administered drugs that have been shown to work yet have been shelved because of the fact that they are not passing through,” says Konofagou.

Konofagou has also deployed ultrasound in the field of cardiology. As patients, especially men, age, their risk of developing an irregular heartbeat, called atrial fibrillation, grows. The arrhythmia originates in the upper chambers of the heart, which begin sending rapid, disorganized electrical signals to the rest of the organ. Konofagou’s myocardial elastography can identify and localize the culprit portions of the heart.

Following diagnosis, the same technique can be used to evaluate treatment, such as after using radiation-free ablation to restore the heart’s natural rhythm. In the future, she hopes her innovations may allow for an inexpensive, noninvasive screening test for heart disease. “I believe ultrasound can do anything,” she says. Each day, her research is bringing that statement closer and closer to reality.

A PhD graduate of a joint program of the University of Houston and the University of Texas Medical School, Konofagou was a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School prior to joining the SEAS faculty.