Applied Physics Seminar | Non-invasive Histotripsy Cancer Treatment: The Road from Bench to Bedside

Abstract: Histotripsy is the first non-invasive, non-ionizing, and non-thermal ablation technology that is based on ultrasound and invented by Dr. Xu and her colleagues at the University of Michigan. Imagine ultrasound delivered from outside the body is used to generate bubbles and destroy the target tumor, without incision or injury. Pre-clinical studies have shown that ultrasound image-guided histotripsy can non-invasively and mechanically disrupt the target tumor into acellular debris while preserving large normal vessels, nerves, and bile ducts. Histotripsy tumor acellular debris is absorbed by the body, resulting in tumor regression and increased survival benefit. Histotripsy induces significant innate and adaptive immune response and abscopal effect (shrinkage of off-target tumors) in murine tumor models. Multi-center clinical trials confirm that histotripsy produces tumor regression and provides evidence of abscopal effect in patients with primary and metastatic liver tumors. In October 2023, the Edison TM histotripsy platform (HistoSonics) was approved by FDA for non-invasive treatment of liver tumors. The Edison TM system is based on the technology licensed from Dr. Xu’s lab and manufactured by HistoSonics, a company co-founded by Dr. Xu. As of August 2025, histotripsy has been used to treat 2000+ patients with liver tumors in 50+ hospitals. There are ongoing clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe on histotripsy treatment of renal tumors and pancreatic tumors. Dr. Xu will talk about the mechanism and instrumentation of histotripsy, the latest pre-clinical and clinical progress, and her journal to bring this technology from bench to bedside.

Short bio: Dr. Zhen Xu is the Li Ka Shing Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Radiology and Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Her research focuses on ultrasound therapy and imaging. She is a pioneer and world leader of histotripsy. She has developed histotripsy for cancer, neurological, and cardiovascular applications. Her work has led to the FDA approval of histotripsy treatment of liver tumors. She has been elected as Fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI), Fellow of American Institute of Medicine and Bioengineering (AIMBE), and IEEE. She received the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control (UFFC) Outstanding Paper Award in 2006, Frederic Lizzi Award from The International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) in 2015, Lockhart Memorial Prize for Cancer Research in 2020, and IEEE Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonics Award in 2024. She has published 130+ peer-reviewed journal papers (h-index=55) and has been awarded $40+ millions of external grant funding. She has 36 issued US and international patents. She is a principal investigator of grants funded by NIH, Office of Navy Research, American Cancer Association, and Focused Ultrasound Foundation. She is the co-founder of HistoSonics. HistoSonics is evaluated at $2.25 billions through a recent majority stake acquisition in August 2025.