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New York, NY; Mountain View, CA—Developers of the software PZFlex® at Weidlinger Associates named Shutao Wang, a PhD student at George Washington University in Washington, DC, the winner of the second annual PZFlex Student Innovation Competition. The contest was open to students at academic institutions throughout the world and attracted a diverse group of applicants. It was initiated to “inspire novel uses for PZFlex software in solving today’s complex engineering problems and to advance the use of virtual tools in as many industries as possible.” Wang plans to use PZFlex to develop new treatments for retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer of the eye that, in the United States, accounts for approximately three percent of all cancers in children under the age of 15. Conventional approaches often result in permanent loss of vision. The goal of his research is to use focused ultrasound for precision delivery of heat-activated chemotherapy drugs to tumor sites, a nonsurgical treatment that can potentially save the eye. Wang will use PZFlex to study how ultrasound moves through the complex structures of the eye on its way to the focal point, to make sure that any treatment is as controlled as possible and other delicate parts of the eye are not damaged. If successful, Wang is hopeful that his research will initiate a broader study into noninvasive treatment of this devastating childhood disease. Weidlinger's highly versatile and adaptable virtual prototyping software addresses primary markets totaling hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide. Weidlinger recently received a Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration for being a model of excellence in high technology; its early development was supported by Phase I and II National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grants. PZFlex Director Dr. Paul Reynolds explains that “PZFlex virtual prototyping software is leading the revolution in application development by not only allowing virtual construction of the prototype, but enabling users to economically and accurately determine how that prototype will actually perform, without ever having to build it.” Wang will use ultrasound similar to that employed in many medical imaging applications, such as fetal monitoring, but at much higher power levels. In the same way that focusing light with a magnifying glass creates a spot of intense heat, focused ultrasound can cause temperature rises in controlled locations. Focusing the ultrasound on a specific cancer site restricts the release of the heat-activated drugs to that location, ensuring the greatest effect on the cancer and minimizing the side effects typically associated with chemotherapy. “I am very proud to be the winner of the second annual PZFlex student innovation competition,” said Wang. “The program’s excellent time domain analyzing capability will help us to understand how ultrasound waves interact with eye tissues and to facilitate our goal of promoting ocular drug delivery via ultrasound. The PZFlex thermal solver will allow us to gain insights on how hyperthermia can be generated in ocular tumors for targeted drug delivery. I look forward to working with PZFlex staff and involving them in this exciting project.” Wang is in the final year of his PhD studies in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (biomedical engineering focused) with Professor Vesna Zderic, PhD, at George Washington University. He is expected to complete his proposed research in a year and to publish his results with assistance from the contest’s sponsors. As the contest winner, Wang will be presented with a state-of-the-art laptop computer and a one-year license of the PZFlex simulation software with which to advance his stated research goals. Students were invited to submit proposals for investigation of a technology using PZFlex on any topic, although it was assumed that it would be in a field where the software is already used, such as NDT, MEMS, sonar, sensor design, or acoustics. Last year’s competition was restricted to students at academic institutions that are current PZFlex customers. However, this year, to ensure a pool of the most diverse and gifted researchers and university faculty, Weidlinger broadened its search to include students attending any college or university worldwide that is working with technologies supported by PZFlex. PZFlex® is the registered trademark of Weidlinger's virtual prototyping software, which is first in world markets for medical therapeutics and sonar. It is the program of choice for all major U.S. and Japanese medical transducer manufacturers, as well as for scientists at prominent academic institutions engaged in studies of diagnostic and therapeutic medical ultrasound. Developed in the 1980s to improve the modeling of ultrasonic probes, PZFlex quickly became the most versatile member of a family of codes (FLEX) used to solve huge wave-propagation problems for the U.S. government. During the past two decades of intensive development, PZFlex has spawned numerous applications and attracted increasing numbers of clients. |