Faculty News

BME Professor Honored As U-M Innovator

The Department of Biomedical Engineering Founding Chair, Professor Charles Cain, received recognition as one of the top innovators at The University of Michigan. Dr. Cain, along with his some of his colleagues in BME, is being honored for an invention that uses ultrasound technology to destroy prostate cancer tumors. The technique uses tightly focused ultrasound pulses to shred and liquefy tumors without damaging surrounding tissues. The process has been equated to using thousands of micro-scalpels to destroy diseased tissue.

Dr. Cain's research is partially being funded by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, which seeks to fund biomedical innovations with the potential to help patients. This year Dr. Cain's group received $100,000 of the $1 million/year grant. To date The Coulter Foundation has awarded $350,000 to Professor Cain's lab. The Coulter partnership along with the Office of Technology Transfer is helping Dr. Cain's team launch and Ann Arbor-based startup named HistoSonics, to produce the non-invasive surgical tool.

Dr. Cain was honored along with a number of other U-M innovators at a ceremony held in the Michigan League Ballroom on October 1, 2008. To read more about this prestigious achievement see the featured article appearing in the September 29 issue of the University Record.

Posted on October 13, 2008, 9:01 am