Bio

B.S. ​Rochester Institute of Technology, 1990Ph.D. ​University of Virginia, 1995

"The Price Laboratory develops image-guided drug and gene delivery approaches for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases."

Richard J. Price, Ph.D., is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. Early in his career, he performed seminal studies demonstrating that microbubble activation with ultrasound could be used to deliver nanoparticles across endothelial barriers. His current research centers on the use of MRI-guided focused ultrasound for targeting the delivery of drugs and genes across the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of brain tumors and the prevention of Parkinson’s neurodegeneration. He is also Research Director of the UVA Focused Ultrasound Center. In this capacity, he leads an institution-wide effort to identify, investigate, and translate new focused ultrasound applications.

Awards

  • Andrew J. Lockhart Memorial Prize for Focused Ultrasound Cancer Research 2017
  • Jorge Heller Award for Most Outstanding Paper in Journal of Controlled Release 2015
  • Fellow of the American Institue of Medical and Biological Engineering 2015

Research Interests

  • Drug and Gene Delivery
  • Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
  • Cardiovascular Engineering
  • Medical and Molecular Imaging

In the News

  • Focused Ultrasound Opening Brain to Impossible Treatments

    Focused Ultrasound Opening Brain to Impossible Treatments

    Richard J. Price, PhD, of UVA’s School of Medicine and School of Engineering, is using focused soundwaves to overcome the natural “blood-brain barrier,” which protects the brain from harmful pathogens

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  • Tackling Cancer Through Team Science

    Tackling Cancer Through Team Science

    Clinical Trial is First of Its Kind in the World, Combining Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy to Treat Breast Cancer in Humans

    For patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer, where the disease has spread throughout the body, the survival rate is only 22%. These women and men face ongoing treatment for the rest of their lives, often with harsh side effects. Although treatable, there is no cure for metastatic disease. The University of Virginia Health System is working to change that, and has launched a clinical trial that uses groundbreaking focused ultrasound technology to target metastatic breast cancer and make tumors responsive to immunotherapy—without surgery. The study is the first in the world to combine focused ultrasound and immunotherapy to treat breast cancer in humans. If successful, this clinical trial will provide new hope for patients diagnosed with this late stage of breast cancer.

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  • Price Earns Inaugural Lockhart Memorial Prize

    Price Earns Inaugural Lockhart Memorial Prize

    Price Earns $75,000 Lockhart Memorial Prize

    Biomedical engineer Richard Price is the winner of the inaugural $75,000 Andrew J. Lockhart Memorial Prize for work that advances the use of focused ultrasound to treat cancer.

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  • Riding a Wave of Sound

    One way to get drugs through the blood-brain barrier: smuggle them across using sound waves

    The blood-brain barrier, a name given to the tightly packed vascular cells in the brain’s capillaries, keeps the central nervous system remarkably free of most pathogens. But that defense is a major challenge for delivering drugs that treat brain disorders. One reason glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, is so lethal is that treatments can’t get across the barrier to reach tumors

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Selected Publications

  • Focused Ultrasound Hyperthermia Augments Release of Glioma-Derived Extracellular Vesicles with Differential Immunomodulatory Capacity. Theranostics. 10(16):7436-7447. 2020. Sheybani, N.D., A.J. Batts, A.S. Mathew, E.A. Thim, and R.J. Price
  • Sonoselective Transfection of Cerebral Vasculature Without Blood–Brain Barrier Disruption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1914595117. 2020. Gorick, C.M., A.S. Mathew, W.J. Garrison, E.A. Thim, D.G. Fisher, C.A. Copeland, J. Song, A.L. Klibanov, G.W. Miller, and R.J. Price
  • Augmentation of Brain Tumor Interstitial Flow via Focused Ultrasound Promotes Brain-Penetrating Nanoparticle Dispersion and Transfection. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay1344. 2020. Curley, C.T., B.P. Mead, K. Negron, N. Kim, W.J. Garrison, E.A. Thim, K.M. Kingsmore, J.M. Munson, G.W. Miller, A.L.Klibanov, J.S. Suk, J. Hanes, and R.J. Price
  • Focused Ultrasound Pre-Conditioning for Augmented Nanoparticle Penetration and Efficacy in the Central Nervous System. Small. DOI: 10.1002/smll.201903460. 2019. Mead, B.P., C.T. Curley, N. Kim, K. Negron, W.J. Garrison, J. Song, D. Rao, G. Wilson Miller, J.W. Mandell, B.J. Purow, J.S. Suk, J. Hanes, and R.J. Price
  • Perspectives on Recent Progress in Focused Ultrasound Immunotherapy. Theranostics. DOI:10.7150/thno.37131. 2019. Sheybani, N.D. and R.J. Price
  • Parkinson's Disease Gene Therapy: Will Focused Ultrasound and Nanovectors be the Next Frontier? Movement Disorders. doi: 10.1002/mds.27675. 2019. Price R.J., D.G. Fisher, J.S. Suk, J. Hanes, H.S. Ko, J.H. Kordower
  • Epigenetic Regulators of the Revascularization Response to Chronic Arterial Occlusion.Cardiovascular Research. 115:701-712. 2019. Heuslein J.L., C.M.Gorick, R.J. Price
  • ​Recent Advances in the Use of Focused Ultrasound for MR Image-Guided Nanoparticle Delivery to the Central Nervous System. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 10:1348. 2019. Fisher, D.G., and R.J. Price
  • Listening in on the Microbubble Crowd: Advanced Acoustic Monitoring for Improved Control of Blood-Brain Barrier Opening with Focused Ultrasound. Theranostics. 8:2988-2991. 2018. Gorick C.M., N.D. Sheybani, C.T. Curley, R.J. Price
  • Exposure of Endothelium to Biomimetic Flow Waveforms Yields Identification of miR-199a as a Potent Regulator of Arteriogenesis. Molecular Therapy: Nucleic Acids. 12:829-844. 2018. Heuslein, J.L., C.M. Gorick, S.P. McDonnell, J. Song, B.H. Annex, and R.J. Price
  • Novel focused ultrasound gene therapy approach non-invasively restores dopaminergic neuron function in a rat Parkinson’s disease model. Nano Lett. 17:3533-3542; 2017. Mead, B.P., N. Kim, G.W. Miller, D. Hodges, P. Mastorakos, A.L. Klibanov, J.W. Mandell, J. Hirsh, J.S. Suk, J. Hanes, R.J. Price
  • MR Image-Guided Delivery of Cisplatin-Loaded Brain-Penetrating Nanoparticles to Invasive Glioma with Focused Ultrasound. J Control Release. 263:120-131; 2017. Timbie, K.F., U. Afzal, A. Date, C. Zhang, J. Song, G.W. Miller, J.S. Suk, J. Hanes, and R.J. Price
  • Focused Ultrasound Immunotherapy for Central Nervous System Pathologies: Challenges and Opportunities. Theranostics. doi:10.7150/thno.21225. 2017. Curley, C.T., N.D. Sheybani, T.N. Bullock, and R.J. Price
  • DNA Methyltransferase 1–Dependent DNA Hypermethylation Constrains Arteriogenesis by Augmenting Shear Stress Set Point. J Am Heart Assoc. 6:e007673. 2017. Heuslein, J.L., C.M. Gorick, J. Song, and R.J. Price
  • Targeted Gene Transfer to the Brain via the Delivery of Brain-Penetrating DNA Nanoparticles with Focused Ultrasound. J Control Rel. 223: 109-117. 2016. Mead, B.P., P. Mastorakos, J.S. Suk, A.L. Klibanov, J. Hanes, and R.J. Price.
  • Vascular growth responses to chronic arterial occlusion are unaffected by myeloid specific focal adhesion kinase (FAK) deletion. Scientific Reports. 6: 27029. 2016. Heuslein, J.L., K.P. Murrell, R.J. Leiphart, J.K. Meisner, R.A. Llewellyn, and R.J. Price.
  • Drug and Gene Delivery Across the Blood-Brain Barrier with Focused Ultrasound. J Control Rel. 219:61-75. 2015. Timbie, K.F., B.P. Mead, and R.J. Price
  • Mechanisms of Amplified Arteriogenesis in Collateral Artery Segments Exposed to Reversed Flow Direction. Arterioscler Thromb & Vasc Biol. 35: 2354-2365. 2015. Heuslein, J.L., J.K. Meisner, R. J. Leiphart, X. Li, J. Song, H. Vincentelli, E.G. Ames, B.R. Blackman, and R.J. Price.
  • Noninvasive Delivery of Stealth Brain Penetrating Nanoparticles Across the Blood-Brain Barrier with MR Image-Guided Focused Ultrasound. J Control Rel. 189:123-132. 2014. E. Nance, K.F. Timbie, G.W. Miller, J. Song, C. Louttit, A.L. Klibanov, T-Y Shih, G. Swaminathan, G. Woodworth, J. Hanes and R.J. Price.
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Courses Taught

  • BME 2220 Biomechanics
  • BME 2102 Physiology II