Acquisition of a Focused Ultrasound Machine to the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology

The University of Copenhagen was founded in 1479 by the Danish king Christian 1, and today has approximately 39,000 students and 9,000 employees – of whom some 5,000 are researchers – and revenues of DKK 8.4 billion.

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Focused ultrasounds can temporary open the blood brain barrier, without causing any damage, with. This possibility allows to deliver macromolecules into the brain in a non-invasive, safe, and targeted manner. Focus ultrasounds are based on mechanical forces induced by microbubbles which start to oscillate when sonicated. The oscillation results in pressure on the endothelium cells. This pressure eventually opens the tight junctions and ultimately the blood brain barrier producing a delivery window of up to four hours after treatment.

Focused ultrasound is a transient, localized, and non-invasive method that is a promising alternative to conventional methods used for drug delivery or stimulation. With FUS, precise brain regions on the order of mm can be targeted for applications such as blood brain barrier (BBB) opening and neuromodulation. The RK-50 is a stand alone, versatile, preclinical system that uses stereotactic targeting to deliver precise FUS exposures in the brain.

The system includes 3-axis positioning system for fast and precise multi-point targeting, a PC with custom software for treatment planning and monitoring based on rodent brain atlases, a customizable focused ultrasound dose settings including continuous and pulsed exposures, a real-time acoustic feedback to control exposures based on stimulated acoustic emissions from circulating microbubbles.

FUS Instruments (the seller) was founded in 2009 by Rajiv Chopra and Kullervo Hynynen, academic scientists within the field of therapeutic ultrasound. Since that time the company has provided research ultrasound platforms for scientists, clinicians, and companies across the globe. The company mission is to accelerate development in the field of therapeutic ultrasound by eliminating the technology hurdle for researchers. For this reason, the company is solely focused on preclinical research platforms that can be easily used by researchers in a non-clinical setting.

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