The 7th International Winter School on Therapeutic Ultrasound took place in Les Houches, France, from 3 to 8 March 2019. Vera Khokhlova was one of the organizers of this event. The main goal of the School was to provide an interdisciplinary overview of the rapidly developing field of therapeutic ultrasound. The School covered many topics directly related to application of focused ultrasound in therapy and surgery: ultrasound propagation in biological tissues, physics and mechanisms of ultrasound-tissue interaction, image guidance, biophysics and tumor immunology, methods of analyzing the lesions and much more. Each lecture was given by a world expert in a particular field. In addition, participation in the School allowed establishing useful contacts with foreign colleagues and provided an opportunity for discussion and exchange of experience. The School was attended by 20 lecturers, including physicists, immunologists, radiologists, neurosurgeons, representatives of companies manufacturing ultrasonic medical equipment, as well as about 40 students from 10 different countries. This year Vera Khokhlova gave a lecture on histotripsy and Oleg Sapozhnikov – on ultrasound field characterization. PhD students Alisa Krokhmal, Suren Petrosyan, Dmitriy Nikolaev and M.S. student Ekaterina Ponomarchuk aslo represented LIMU at the School.

All lectures were outstanding and very educational. For instance, Bonnie Lee Hylander (Associate Professor of Oncology from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, USA) explained complex mechanisms of tumor immunology and immunotherapy. Neurosurgeon Daniel Jeanmonod from Switzerland highlighted the main clinical indications of the human brain that have been successfully treated by focused ultrasound. Cyril Lafon, Director of the LabTAU Laboratory of INSERM (Lyon, France), spoke about challenges of translating a scientific idea into clinical practice based on the successful example of the startup EyeTechCare (2008), which developed and introduced into clinical practice (2013) an innovative ultrasound medical device EyeOP1, designed for the treatment of glaucoma.

LIMU students also presented the results of their research to the foreign colleagues. Alisa Krokhmal and Ekaterina Ponomarchuk were awarded prizes for the best student presentations. Alisa’s project was devoted to manipulation of tissue spheroids using acoustic radiation and magnetic forces with the aim of biofabrication. Ekaterina Ponomarchuk reported her results of cytological and ultrastructural analysis of mechanically liquefied lesions generated using histotripsy in a human model of hematoma ex vivo. Dmitry Nikolaev presented his research on broadband calibration of hydrophones by combining acoustic holography and radiation force balance measurements. And Suren Petrosyan’s project was devoted to estimation of kidney stone size using an acoustic waveguide rod.

More detailed information about the School and its participants can be found in the presentation and recorded lectures of Professors Vera Khokhlova and Oleg Sapozhnikov.