High school student takes on pediatric cancer
Through the Focused Ultrasound Foundation’s Global Internship Program, Mason Liu is tackling pediatric cancer research in the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s D.C. labs.
In some ways, Mason Liu is a lot like his peers: starting a new school year and navigating college applications. But most high schoolers don’t spend their summers doing research to refine noninvasive treatments for brain cancer.
Liu is one of a select group of students who are part of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation’s Global Internship Program, which pairs high schoolers and undergraduates with scholars and industry professionals at leading institutions around the world. The program is designed to cultivate early interest in focused ultrasound research.
Liu breaks down his early experiences, future goals, and how he spent his summer working with Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus in Washington, D.C.
An early interest in science
“I’ve always had some exposure to labs. My mom is a professor in cancer research, so I heard about it at home growing up. She studies brain cancer.”
Liu said he has prior experience in labs at Georgetown University and Children’s National, where he learned fundamental techniques such as cell culturing and DNA extraction in order to run some of his own independent experiments. That hands-on experience, he said, deepened his interest in scientific research.
“Most of my research has centered on brain cancer, and I want to learn more about it. It’s a cutting-edge field due to how hard it is to treat, particularly with the blood-brain barrier making drug delivery difficult.”
Much of Assistant Professor Cheng-Chia “Fred” Wu’s research centers on the blood-brain barrier, a protective network of cells that shields the brain from potentially harmful substances circulating in the bloodstream. Because it is highly protective, it also prevents most drugs from entering the brain.
“Dr. Wu’s lab is working on using focused ultrasound to bypass this barrier,” Liu said. “That’s very innovative, and I’m excited to be part of that work.”
One method of bypassing this barrier involves pairing low-intensity focused ultrasound with microbubbles — small gas-filled spheres used to enhance contrast in ultrasound imaging and, more recently, to deliver cancer drugs to the brain. When combined with focused ultrasound, microbubbles offer a non-invasive and temporary way to open the blood-brain barrier, allowing treatments to reach brain tumors.
Working with an emerging therapy
“My project’s objective is to see if there’s a difference in how two microbubble types perform in treating brain cancer using focused ultrasound and whether that difference shows up between children and adults,” Liu said about his internship project. “We’re analyzing the data from single-cell RNA sequencing to see how focused ultrasound changes the immune microenvironment of the tumor.”
Because it is an emerging therapy, there has been limited research into which microbubble agents are most effective for brain cancer treatment. As a result, clinicians often rely on a default microbubble formulation. The agents used, though generally effective, rarely account for differences between patients. Children’s blood-brain barriers differ significantly from those of adults, for example.
Getting involved with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation
“I planned to work with Dr. Wu even before applying to the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. The foundation requires a full research proposal with rationale, objectives, methods, and projected results,” Liu said. “It’s an international competition that accepts proposals from around the world. This year, I was selected, and I’m very grateful.”
Working at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s Cancer Research Center — D.C., based at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, Liu will use murine models to compare the performance of two microbubble formulations commonly used to treat brain cancer using focused ultrasound. He will then assess whether pediatric and adult brain tissue respond differently to these interventions.
In addition to his work with Wu, Liu will also receive mentoring in computational biology from Assistant Professor Shenglin Mei, who leads a lab at the Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C.
In 2024, Virginia Tech was designated by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation as a Center of Excellence. Children’s National also holds that designation.
