Kenneth Bader

Assistant Professor
Research Summary
The focus of the Biomedical Acoustics Development and Engineering Research Laboratory (BADER Lab) is the translation of therapeutic ultrasound for non- or minimally invasive treatment of cardiovascular and cancerous disease. Specifically, we utilize acoustic cavitation for combinatorial ablation and enhanced drug delivery treatment strategies of pathologies resistant to standard interventional techniques. To assess bubble activity and the resultant changes in tissue structure, we are developing multi-modal imaging approaches via diagnostic ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. Analytic and numerical bubble dynamics models are also utilized to gain insight into the mechanism of action of our therapeutic approaches. Current research topics include: • Chronic thrombus ablation with histotripsy and thrombolytic drugs • Passive cavitation and MR imaging to assess histotripsy-induced liquefaction • In vitro assessment of histotripsy-enhanced drug delivery • Histotripsy-induced sonochemical reactions for the treatment of cancer • Numeric and analytic models of bubble dynamics • Magnetic Resonance-guided transurethral prostate ablation For more information, visit our laboratory website: baderlab.uchicago.edu
Keywords
Biomedical acoustics, Acoustic cavitation, Therapeutic ultrasound, Diagnostic ultrasound, HIstotripsy
Education
  • Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, B.S. Physics 05/2005
  • University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, Ph.D. Physics 05/2011
Publications
  1. Assessment of bubble activity generated by histotripsy combined with echogenic liposomes. Phys Med Biol. 2022 10 31; 67(21). View in: PubMed

  2. Corrigendum: Assessment of histotripsy-induced liquefaction with diagnostic ultrasound and magnetic resonance imagingin vitroandex vivo(2019Phys. Med. Biol.64095023). Phys Med Biol. 2022 Sep 30; 67(19). View in: PubMed

  3. Effect of Thrombin and Incubation Time on Porcine Whole Blood Clot Elasticity and Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator Susceptibility. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2022 08; 48(8):1567-1578. View in: PubMed

  4. (More than) doubling down: Effective fibrinolysis at a reduced rt-PA dose for catheter-directed thrombolysis combined with histotripsy. PLoS One. 2022; 17(1):e0261567. View in: PubMed

  5. Assessment of histological characteristics, imaging markers, and rt-PA susceptibility of ex vivo venous thrombi. Sci Rep. 2021 11 23; 11(1):22805. View in: PubMed

  6. Histotripsy Bubble Cloud Contrast With Chirp-Coded Excitation in Preclinical Models. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2022 02; 69(2):787-794. View in: PubMed

  7. Ultrasound for Aesthetic Applications: A Review of Biophysical Mechanisms and Safety. J Ultrasound Med. 2022 Jul; 41(7):1597-1607. View in: PubMed

  8. Design and Characterization of an Ultrasound Transducer for Combined Histotripsy-Thrombolytic Therapy. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2022 01; 69(1):156-165. View in: PubMed

  9. Estimating the mechanical energy of histotripsy bubble clouds with high frame rate imaging. Phys Med Biol. 2021 08 05; 66(16). View in: PubMed

  10. An In vitro System to Gauge the Thrombolytic Efficacy of Histotripsy and a Lytic Drug. J Vis Exp. 2021 06 04; (172). View in: PubMed

  11. Clot Degradation Under the Action of Histotripsy Bubble Activity and a Lytic Drug. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2021 09; 68(9):2942-2952. View in: PubMed

  12. Assessment of Collaborative Robot (Cobot)-Assisted Histotripsy for Venous Clot Ablation. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2021 04; 68(4):1220-1228. View in: PubMed

  13. In Vitro Thrombolytic Efficacy of Single- and Five-Cycle Histotripsy Pulses and rt-PA. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2020 02; 46(2):336-349. View in: PubMed

  14. In vitro assessment of stiffness-dependent histotripsy bubble cloud activity in gel phantoms and blood clots. Phys Med Biol. 2019 07 18; 64(14):145019. View in: PubMed

  15. Corrigendum to: "Shaken and Stirred: Mechanisms of Ultrasound-Enhanced Thrombolysis" in Ultrasound Med Biol 2015; 41(1): 187-196. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2019 Aug; 45(8):2266. View in: PubMed

  16. Observation and modulation of the dissolution of histotripsy-induced bubble clouds with high-frame rate plane wave imaging. Phys Med Biol. 2019 05 29; 64(11):115012. View in: PubMed

  17. For Whom the Bubble Grows: Physical Principles of Bubble Nucleation and Dynamics in Histotripsy Ultrasound Therapy. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2019 05; 45(5):1056-1080. View in: PubMed

  18. Assessment of histotripsy-induced liquefaction with diagnostic ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging in vitro and ex vivo. Phys Med Biol. 2019 05 02; 64(9):095023. View in: PubMed

  19. MRI-guided transurethral insonation of silica-shell phase-shift emulsions in the prostate with an advanced navigation platform. Med Phys. 2019 Feb; 46(2):774-788. View in: PubMed

  20. The influence of gas diffusion on bubble persistence in shock-scattering histotripsy. J Acoust Soc Am. 2018 06; 143(6):EL481. View in: PubMed

  21. The influence of medium elasticity on the prediction of histotripsy-induced bubble expansion and erythrocyte viability. Phys Med Biol. 2018 05 02; 63(9):095010. View in: PubMed

  22. Post Hoc Analysis of Passive Cavitation Imaging for Classification of Histotripsy-Induced Liquefaction in Vitro. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2018 01; 37(1):106-115. View in: PubMed

  23. Quantitative Frequency-Domain Passive Cavitation Imaging. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2016 Oct 25. View in: PubMed

  24. In vitro thrombolytic efficacy of echogenic liposomes loaded with tissue plasminogen activator and octafluoropropane gas. Phys Med Biol. 2017 01 21; 62(2):517-538. View in: PubMed

  25. Quantitative Frequency-Domain Passive Cavitation Imaging. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2017 01; 64(1):177-191. View in: PubMed

  26. Efficacy of histotripsy combined with rt-PA in vitro. Phys Med Biol. 2016 07 21; 61(14):5253-74. View in: PubMed

  27. Effect of Frequency-Dependent Attenuation on Predicted Histotripsy Waveforms in Tissue-Mimicking Phantoms. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2016 07; 42(7):1701-5. View in: PubMed

  28. Predicting the growth of nanoscale nuclei by histotripsy pulses. Phys Med Biol. 2016 Apr 07; 61(7):2947-66. View in: PubMed

  29. Sonothrombolysis. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016; 880:339-62. View in: PubMed

  30. Thrombolytic efficacy and enzymatic activity of rt-PA-loaded echogenic liposomes. J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2015 Aug; 40(2):144-55. View in: PubMed

  31. Shaken and stirred: mechanisms of ultrasound-enhanced thrombolysis. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2015 Jan; 41(1):187-96. View in: PubMed

  32. Cavitation thresholds of contrast agents in an in vitro human clot model exposed to 120-kHz ultrasound. J Acoust Soc Am. 2014 Feb; 135(2):646-53. View in: PubMed

  33. Broadband attenuation measurements of phospholipid-shelled ultrasound contrast agents. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2014 Feb; 40(2):410-21. View in: PubMed

  34. Relationship between cavitation and loss of echogenicity from ultrasound contrast agents. Phys Med Biol. 2013 Sep 21; 58(18):6541-63. View in: PubMed

  35. Gauging the likelihood of stable cavitation from ultrasound contrast agents. Phys Med Biol. 2013 Jan 07; 58(1):127-44. View in: PubMed

  36. Experimental validation of a finite-difference model for the prediction of transcranial ultrasound fields based on CT images. Phys Med Biol. 2012 Dec 07; 57(23):8005-22. View in: PubMed

  37. The effect of static pressure on the strength of inertial cavitation events. J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Oct; 132(4):2286-91. View in: PubMed

  38. The effect of static pressure on the inertial cavitation threshold. J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Aug; 132(2):728-37. View in: PubMed