Histotripsy lab creates meaningful sound for local artist

[MUSIC] "Into the sweet blue..." This particular song is about my brother. I lost him to cancer in 2013. This song I knew was going to be very difficult to write because it was about my last moments with him before he passed away. So the sounds that I was going to be putting into the song had to be very special. There had to be a lot of significance with where these sounds came from. I was just blown away by the fact that there is this technology that exists where people actually are being healed through sound. I didn't have to think twice, I was like, that's where these sounds are going to come from. They're going to come from this lab. Our lab is developing Focus Ultrasound technologies, more specifically histotripsy. Histotripsy uses focused ultrasound to create these cavitation bubbles. And these cavitation bubbles are what actually destroys a tumor. Katherine and I have been friends for about four years now, and when we first met, we had talked about similar experiences with cancer, with her losing her brother, and actually, you know, I've lost multiple family members. My mom died of cancer when I was four years old. So that really resonated, and we had talked about the potential of doing a collaboration where we could record actually some of the sounds from our lab. Or do something where what we're developing on the technology side could be combined with the art and her music. The sound we're capturing is actually like the pulse repetition. I knew that there would be some interesting things that we could layer into the sound coming from the histotripsy machine. And then I knew there would be a bunch of really interesting clicky sounds we could use. I wasn't really sure coming into today what repetition frequencies would sound best with the music. Seeing them, Katherine and Orion, listening to the sounds and in real time You actually integrated the sounds in. So we actually heard like a first draft of where in the song the histotrpsy sounds that they've recorded are going to be. I'm excited to see what happens with this song. I'm also just hoping that people who listen to it will find comfort and feel like they're not alone when they're grieving. And also, I'm hoping it brings even more of a high light and a spotlight into this incredible new world of healing that is happening right here at Virginia Tech and the community that's here.