When you hear the term ultrasound, you likely think of pregnancy and fuzzy images of developing babies. And the technology, which relies upon reflected soundwaves to generate images, is indeed frequently used to monitor fetal growth or to examine other parts of the body to inform diagnoses.
But high-intensity ultrasound can also destroy unwanted tissue, such as tumor cells or uterine fibroids—and researchers like Aarushi Bhargava are exploring its other possibilities.
Bhargava joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in summer 2024, bringing her interdisciplinary research on the mechanics of soft materials and acoustics for developing biomedical technologies.
“A major obstacle to successfully bringing a technology to market is poor communication between the different experts involved in its development. For instance, researchers with expertise in mechanics investigate how materials react to mechanical stimuli like sound. On the other hand, clinicians focus on the induced bioeffects of ultrasound in materials like tissues,” says Bhargava, who studied mechanical engineering and biology at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India. “As new ultrasound-based technologies move to the clinical evaluation phase, a disconnect often occurs between these two domain experts. This disconnect prevents the optimization of the technology’s performance. The goal is, therefore, to bridge this gap across different disciplines—in this case, material experts and clinicians—throughout an ultrasound technology’s development.”
While earning her PhD at Virginia Tech and completing postdoctoral research stints at the University of Chicago and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, Bhargava has used ultrasound for drug delivery, to break up blood clots, and to activate medical microrobots. And she says those are just a few examples of how ultrasound can augment or replace existing treatment strategies.
“It’s a huge range,” says Bhargava, who’s originally from Jaipur in western India. “Ultrasound traditionally has been used to heat cells and tissues. And now we are using it to mechanically manipulate a material, opening up a wide variety of applications. You can induce drug delivery, perform neuromodulation, disintegrate a tissue—all through the mechanical force of sound, and it just depends on few ultrasound parameters such as its intensity and frequency, and then, obviously, on the material.”
Bhargava sees herself as a natural fit in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, where nearly all research spans departmental and college boundaries and requires collaborative expertise in biology, materials and technology.
“Many faculty members in BME are working in complementary fields ” she says. “ For instance, researchers like Melissa Skala and Kevin Eliceiri focus on immune cells and extracellular matrix behaviors, while I specialize in how ultrasound interacts with various soft materials. This synergy brings exciting opportunities to develop new treatment technologies. Additionally, researchers like Chris Brace are using other non-invasive methods, especially microwaves, to interact with tissues in ways similar to ultrasound. These aligned interests create a vibrant and collaborative environment for innovating hybrid therapeutic strategies.”
In the classroom, Bhargava will teach biomechanics courses, which will allow her to share her research with undergraduate students.
“One thing about teaching I like the most is that it’s a two-way transfer of knowledge,” she says. “A classroom makes you examine a concept you are teaching from different perspectives, not just your own, and that in my opinion is a very comprehensive way to increase your knowledge about that topic. You see students getting excited about things that you’re also excited about. It’s a very nice and satisfying feeling.”
Top photo by Joel Hallberg