Zhen Xu, histotripsy co-inventor, honored with endowed professorship from Li Ka Shing Foundation
Professor Zhen Xu, the newly-named Li Ka Shing Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering and a co-inventor of histotripsy, tries out the ceremonial chair that comes with her new title. Photo: Brenda Ahearn, Michigan Engineering.
by Jim Lynch
Zhen Xu, a University of Michigan pioneer in developing the tumor-destroying histotripsy treatment, will expand her partnership with the Hong Kong-based Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) through a new $2.5 million endowed professorship.
It’s a partnership designed to be the means to an end—of cancer.
Xu was honored with a Li Ka Shing Endowed Professorship of Biomedical Engineering at U-M. Foundation leaders want to continue and deepen their support of histotripsy at the place where it was invented. A ceremony was held to mark the occasion at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Endowed professorships are funded by donors and provide additional resources to acknowledge outstanding research, teaching and service. They are among the highest honors Michigan Engineering can award a faculty member. Mr. Li Ka-shing, a famed philanthropist, and Solina Chau, the foundation’s director, met with Xu, a U-M professor of biomedical engineering, in Hong Kong as a new histotripsy device was delivered to a local hospital.
“When we shared the potential of this precise, targeted, effective and painless option for combating cancer with Mr. Li Ka-Shing, his response was straightforward and resolute,” Chau said. “He said ‘This is truly incredible. We should support its research and treatment services wherever possible, and please expedite it.’”
Histotripsy uses precisely-targeted ultrasound pulses to break down targeted tissues such as tumors, leaving miniscule harmless debris that can be absorbed by the body. It’s an alternative treatment for cancers that comes without the risks of surgery and the taxing side effects of chemotherapy and radiation.
Years of research collaboration between Michigan Engineering and Michigan Medicine have helped push histotripsy out of the lab and into the mainstream. The technology is currently being used to treat patients with liver tumors, and human trials are now underway for patients with kidney and pancreatic tumors.
Histotripsy has been commercialized by U-M startup HistoSonics, co-founded by Xu and a group of university engineers and doctors in 2009. And histrotripsy’s potential has amassed an ever-growing group of supporters.
“This has been an amazing journey so far, and it’s the result of the work of so many people,” Xu said. “There have been nearly a hundred people here at U-M that we’ve worked with directly or indirectly, and HistoSonics now employs almost 200 people. And now we have people like Mr. Li Ka-Shing and Ms. Solina Chau supporting us along with other donors.
“I used to tell people it takes a village, but that’s not enough. It takes an army.”
Li Ka-shing, Chau and the foundation are no strangers to U-M, having now given nearly $10 million to projects at the College of Engineering and Michigan Medicine. Those include:
The University of Michigan/Shantou University Instructional Postdoctoral Program, established in 2017. The program allowed biomedical engineering postdocs to spend a year training at U-M, and then spend the following year in China teaching at Shantou University, which was founded by Mr. Li Ka-Shing in 1981.
A $5 million renovation of 12,000 square feet of space in the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Biomedical Engineering Building in 2019 for state-of-the-art design and prototyping spaces.
In the coming months, LKSF officials are looking to expand their current relationship with Michigan Medicine as well. The foundation plans a $4 million donation that will fund a new endowed research professorship and new research in liver cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
Xu’s journey toward histotripsy began as she worked toward her master’s (2003) and doctorate (2005) degrees at U-M in biomedical engineering. She worked with the late Charles Cain (PhD EE ’72), a distinguished BME professor and a founder of the U-M Biomedical Engineering Department.
Cain devoted much of his career attempting to use soundwaves as a “knife-less surgical approach” for treating all manner of maladies. Xu’s work in the lab helped make that vision a reality.
“It’s taken over 20 years to realize histotripsy’s potential in routine clinical care and it’s humbling to represent a technology that is changing the paradigm in cancer care and likely human health on a larger scale,” said Mike Blue, HistoSonics’ CEO and president. “Demand from patients, physician users, and hospital systems across the country is a testament to the magnitude of Zhen’s invention.
“In addition, the recognition of histotripsy’s profound importance from the Li Ka Shing Foundation has accelerated adoption and access to patients in need across the globe, for which we are very grateful.”
Late in 2024, Xu was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. In November, she travelled to Hong Kong for the Li Ka Shing Foundation’s donation of an Edison Histotripsy System to the Chinese University of Hong Kong.