On Jul. 30, 2026, researchers at the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging have determined that tumors called gliomas may be even more receptive to targeted drug delivery than normal brain tissue. This is promising sign for the potential of focused sound waves to improve care for brain tumors.

While the research is still in its early stages, the findings help allay concerns that brain tumors might have properties that would make them stubbornly resistant to the cutting-edge approach. Professor Wilson Miller, PhD, Professor Richard J. Price, PhD, and graduate student Matthew Hoch, are using tiny “microbubbles” that are activated by sound waves to open the brain’s natural protective barrier, known as the “blood-brain barrier,” so that drugs can enter exactly where needed.

Inside brain tumors, cancer cells mutate the structure of the blood-brain barrier and its function becomes unpredictable. In turn, this raises questions about how effectively focused ultrasound can deliver therapies in the brain tumor environment and what sizes of drug molecules can be delivered most effectively. The new research from UVA Health’s Focused Ultrasound Cancer Immunotherapy Center provides important insights on both fronts.

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors in adults. This group include glioblastomas, the deadliest form of brain cancer. While there are treatments that can extend survival and improve quality of life, glioblastomas are almost always fatal within 5 to 10 years, so new and better treatments are needed desperately. More than 10,000 people in the United States alone die from glioblastomas every year.

Part of the difficulty in treating glioblastoma is getting drugs through the brain’s natural defenses. The blood-brain barrier exists for an important reason: It keeps harmful germs and toxins out. So doctors have proceeded cautiously in trying to open the gates for fear of letting in dangerous invaders.

Focused ultrasound, however, is now letting doctors open the barrier extremely precisely and extremely briefly, so that beneficial drugs can slip inside unaccompanied by unwanted companions. Dr. Price’s approach would use low-frequency sound waves to send tiny drug molecules spinning directly into tumor cells. This is done without the need for cutting into the skull.

In addition to indicating that gliomas in lab mice are vulnerable to the approach, Dr. Price’s latest research sheds light on the sizes of molecules that would be most effective. He and his collaborators identified a “Goldilocks” size range where the molecules worked best. Very small molecules delivered the medicine less efficiently than larger ones, but very large molecules were less effective than the medium-sized ones. (This is relative, of course – all the molecules are far, far smaller than can be seen with the naked eye.)

Now UVA is bolstering its research tools with the addition of a cutting-edge MRI-guided focused ultrasound system for drug delivery to the brain. The system, by Insightec, comes equipped with an advanced magnetic-resonance imaging unit that provides astonishing views inside the brain. This will let the researchers better understand exactly what happens as they use sound waves to drive drug molecules into tumors.

While more research needs to be done, the promising results bode well for the efforts by UVA Cancer Center and UVA’s Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology to develop new options for patients with brain cancers. (UVA’s Manning Institute has been launched specifically to fast-track new treatments and cures for the most challenging diseases to benefit patients across Virginia and beyond.)