Research at the European XFEL: Megahertz time resolved X-ray microscopy research on micro-droplets for fighting brain tumor

Brain disorders are affecting one in three people during the course of their lives. Emmanouil Manolis Gavaises from University of London in UK investigated ultrasound-activatable droplets for brain tumor therapy at European XFEL’s SPB/SFX instrument. He and his team characterised the physico-chemical features of monodisperse perfluorocarbon micro-droplets (PFCD) excited by high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). PFCDs represent the only biocompatible system allowing the safe HIFU-mediated blood-brain barrier opening for the therapy of brain tumor. The experiment provides for the first time the shape of the cavitation bubble inside the opaque layers of PFCDs and the surrounding tissue deformation, which could pave the way for better brain tumor therapy.