Greek scientist Elisa Konofagou, PhD is pioneering in treatment methods with ultrasound. Credit: AMNA
Greek scientist Elisa Konofagou, PhD, renowned professor and researcher at Columbia University, is a pioneer in the development of ultrasound method for diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases.
Dr. Konofagou is currently in Greece and spoke to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) about her work and the continuous search for fighting and treating diseases and her motto is perseverance.
She explains that the path to research has many obstacles: from finding funds and forming a qualified interdisciplinary team to choosing a project that works. “Many things in science are imagined differently and are done differently. So it takes a combination of luck, perseverance and knowledge,” she says.
The philosophy she conveys to her students is that they should not give up. “For scientists, rejection is a bigger rule than acceptance. In other words, research itself means that no one believes anything and you have to prove from the beginning why you have done the experiment, how many times, what you have found and when. But at the same time, when you have something truly innovative, you have to believe in yourself. Essentially, this is the only way you can innovate. This is what they can never take away from you”.
Ultrasound-based for non-invasive treatment
Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Radiology and Neurological Sciences, Dr. Elisa Konofagou designs and develops ultrasound-based technologies with her research team, where sound waves are used for drug delivery, disease imaging, and non-invasive treatment of cancers and neurological diseases.
Looking back on her career, she describes the exciting and unpredictable side of research. “Many times you don’t get what you want, it’s not what you imagined, but sometimes discoveries are better than you imagined. That helps me move forward.”
One of these cases where the discovery exceeded initial expectations was when she and her team managed to detect very small displacements of the myocardial wall with ultrasound as an early sign of a heart attack, but also to see for the first time, with a precision a thousand times better than the resolution of ultrasound, the electromechanical wave of the heart, opening new paths in the understanding and diagnosis of arrhythmias.
The therapeutic value of ultrasound
Another revolutionary chapter in Dr. Konofagou’s work is the opening of the blood-brain barrier with ultrasound, a natural protection of the brain that prevents the entry of bacteria and viruses, as well as drugs. The goal of this opening, which is done with the help of intravenous bubble administration, is to pass drugs into the brain to treat tumors and neurodegenerative diseases.
In a recent study she conducted with Columbia Medical School associate professor and pediatric oncologist Stergios Zacharoulis – published in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine – this technique was applied to three children with difficult brain tumors (Diffuse Pontine Gliomas), two of whom had significant clinical improvement.
Dr. Konofagou’s research into opening the blood-brain barrier also revealed something unexpected: ultrasound not only helps in the delivery of drugs, but also activates the brain’s immune system. By opening the blood-brain barrier, immune system cells, microglia and macrophages, enter the brain from the bloodstream to cleanse it of harmful substances. It was observed, in fact, that after the opening of the blood-brain barrier, there was a reduction in the pathological proteins associated with Alzheimer’s, β-amyloid and tau, without the administration of drugs.
The improvement of memory remains a question and the next clinical study, as Dr. Konofagou reveals, will be to investigate the effects that will have more openings of the blood-brain barrier in larger areas of the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.
Ultrasound therapy for breast tumors
The results of the application of focused therapeutic ultrasound to breast tumors are similarly promising. Benign tumors are cauterized and, in addition, during research into malignant tumors, which is in progress, it has been found that cauterization activates the response of the entire immune system of patients, resulting in a reduction in metastases.
In fact, inspired by brain research, another study is underway to open up the tumor vessels in breast cancer more and administer the drug more effectively. Dr. Konofagou also uses focused ultrasound technology to assess the stiffness or elasticity of tumors as a biomarker of the body’s response to treatments, starting from the first week of chemotherapy. The clinical study on 20 patients, which is being published, found that the method predicts with almost 96 percent accuracy whether the treatment will be effective after three months.
After extensive research and testing, the Greek scientist is eager to apply her findings in treatment of patients: “Ultrasound therapy at a clinical level is my dream,” she says.
Two decades dedicated to research
A member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Inventors in the United States, Dr. Konofagou has dedicated more than two decades to research on focused ultrasound. In 2024, she received the Visionary Award from the American Focused Ultrasound Foundation for her contribution to this field. In March 2025, the same foundation, recognizing her great work, declared Columbia University a Center of Excellence for Focused Ultrasound.
As for her dream to start applying ultrasound techniques at a clinical level, she says: “I think it will happen, but I don’t know how long it will take.” She recalls that therapeutic ultrasound has been known for a century and even has a longer history than diagnostic ultrasound, having had significant successes in different diseases, such as lithotripsy of kidney stones, cauterization of uterine fibroids, treatment of prostate cancer and treatment of essential tremor.
For Dr. Konofagou, the challenge is also, “instead of taking the patient to the machine, we want to bring the machine to the patient.” In this context, her team has developed a portable focused ultrasound device that can be carried to patients with the aim of making this technology more accessible without the need for expensive equipment.
‘Lab to Market’
Dr. Konofagou is currently in Greece for the “Lab to Market” program of Columbia University, the Columbia Global Center in Athens and the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). It is a program for which aims to help research ideas find their way to the market, It is attended by Columbia professors as mentors, as well as members of the “Endeavor Greece” network and the non-profit organization founded by Greek scientists in the diaspora, the “Hellenic Institute of Advanced Studies” (HIAS), of which Dr. Konofagou is member of the board of directors.
Having founded the company that produces innovative ultrasound machines ten years ago, Dr. Konofagou wants to share her experience with the young researchers participating in “Lab to Market”.
“I have seen from the inside what it is like to build a company, to talk to investors, to be able as an engineer to explain things more simply so that the other person can understand the idea you have in your head and ultimately to be able to express an idea in which someone will then want to invest,” she explains. She adds that interdisciplinary collaboration plays a central role in her research path. “I want to bring such a spirit of collaboration to the NTUA.”
She says that the main reason for participating in “Lab to Market” is also her Greek birthplace. She grew up in Athens and graduated from the Varvakeio School. Having lived and worked abroad for many years, she feels the need to help. “Help Greece, the Greek minds, because when you live abroad for so many years, you want to do some things for your homeland, too.”