Vesna Zderic

Enhanced Ocular Drug Delivery
Our objective has been to determine combinations of ultrasound parameters that can provide optimal delivery of different drugs into the eye, study mechanisms of ultrasound action, and determine long-term safety of this application. We showed previously that exposing cornea to therapeutic ultrasound can lead to up to 10 times more delivery of a drug-mimicking compound into the eye, with only minimal alterations in the corneal structure. Subsequently, we continued to work on drug delivery problems with significant clinical relevance, such as promoting delivery of antibiotics and steroids for treatment of eye inflammations through an NIH funded project. This work indicated that ultrasound can be effective and safe for delivery of steroids into the eye in vivo. Current work focuses on modeling of temperature increases in the eye during ultrasound application, studies of the effectiveness of delivery of anti-parasitic drugs into the eye, and delivery of macromolecules via transscleral route for treatment of macular degeneration.  This work is expected to eventually lead to development of an inexpensive, quick and non-invasive ultrasound method that can be applied in an outpatient clinic to allow targeted delivery of medications into diseased eye tissues for treatment of different diseases including infections and retinopathies.

Stimulation of Insulin Release from Pancreatic Beta Cells
Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disease that has reached epidemic proportions. Pharmacological management routinely requires complex therapy with multiple medications, and loses its effectiveness over time. Thus, new modes of therapy are needed that will target directly the underlying causes of abnormal glucose metabolism. The objective of our study, funded by NIH, is to explore a novel, non-pharmacological approach that utilizes the application of ultrasound energy to safely augment insulin release from pancreatic beta cells as a potential novel treatment for type 2 diabetes.

Nail Drug Delivery
It is estimated that up to 32 million Americans are suffering from onychomycosis. This is a fungal nail disorder that is characterized by thick and yellow nails, can be extremely painful, and has also been documented to lead to many psychosocial issues. In onychomycosis, the fungus lives in the nail bed. Although there are several good antifungal drugs available for treatment, most are applied to the top of the nail and since the nail has poor permeability they do not reach the nail bed reliably and, therefore, are not very effective in treating the fungus. We have been working on the application of low intensity ultrasound to promote permeability of antifungal drugs into the nail. Our preliminary tests indicated that ultrasound increases permeability of the nail by 50% for a drug mimicking compound. In our current work, we are planning to use antifungal nail polish that is prescribed to patients suffering from onychomycosis and see the effectiveness of combining it with ultrasound excitation in order to improve permeation.  People who would benefit the most from this treatment are those in their 60s or older, particularly those who suffer from diabetes, poor circulation, immunosuppressive diseases, or have cancer that is being treated with radiation.

2020-2025

1. Carmine A, Thorpe B, Brayer M, Sharma K, Jeremic A, Zderic V. Ultrasound Modulation of Melatonin Release. Ultrasonics, 2025 Jan 5;148:107565. doi: 10.1016/j.ultras.2025.107565.
2. Hill J, Messina J, Jeremic A, Zderic V. Analyzing Gene Expression after Administration of Low-intensity Therapeutic Ultrasound in Human Islet Cells. J Ultrasound Med. 2024 Feb 27. doi: 10.1002/jum.16441.
3. Allison C, Jimenez-Benoit A, Ramajayam K, Haemmerich D, Zderic V. Therapeutic Ultrasound for Enhanced Corneal Delivery to Macromolecules. J Ultrasound Med. 2023 Oct 16. doi: 10.1002/jum.16346.
4. Saab G*, Singh T*, Chen A, Sabetrasekh P, Sharma K, Cleary K, Zderic V. Modeling of Ultrasound Stimulation of Adolescent Pancreas for Insulin Release Therapy. J Ultrasound Med Feb 2023; 9999:1–9. *co-first authors.
5. Almogbil H, Montecinos-Franjola F, Daszynski C, Conlon WJ, Hachey JS, Corazza G, Rodriguez EA, Zderic V. Therapeutic Ultrasound for Topical Corneal Delivery of Macromolecules. Transl Vis Sci Technol, 2022 Aug 1;11(8):23.
6. Chen A, Saab G, Jeremic A, Zderic V. Therapeutic Ultrasound Effects on Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Cardiomyocytes Measured Optically and with Spectral Ultrasound. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2022 Jun;48(6):1078-1094.
7. Allison C, Cellum B, Karpinecz B, Nasrallah F, Zderic V. Therapeutic Ultrasound-Enhanced Transcorneal Drug Delivery for Treatment of Fungal Keratitis. Cornea, 2022 Jul 1; 41(7):894-900.
8. Almogbil H, Nasrallah F, Zderic V. Feasibility of Therapeutic Ultrasound Application in Topical Scleral Delivery of Avastin. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2021 Dec 1;10(14):2.
9. Suarez Castellanos I, Singh T, Chatterjee Bhowmick D, Cohen J, Jeremic A, Zderic V. Effects of Therapeutic Ultrasound on the Release of Insulin, Glucagon and Alpha Amylase from Ex Vivo Pancreatic Models. J Ultrasound Med. Dec 2021;40(12):2709-2719.
10. Karpinecz B, Edwards N, Zderic V. Therapeutic Ultrasound-Enhanced Transcorneal Drug Delivery for Treatment of Parasitic Keratitis. J Ultrasound Med. 2021 Jan 25. doi: 10.1002/jum.15641.
11. Kim R, Schloen J, Campbell N, Horton S, Zderic V, Efimov I, Lee D, Park CH. Robot-Assisted Semi-Autonomous Ultrasound Imaging with Tactile Sensing and Convolutional Neural-Networks. IEEE Trans Medical Robotics and Bionics, 2021 Feb;3(1):96-105.
12. Chen A, Jeremic A, Zderic V. Ex vivo Imaging of Ultrasound-stimulated Metabolic Activity in Rat Pancreatic Slices. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2021 March 47(3):666-678.
13. Kaifi R, Alahmary F, Chen A, Macsata R, Sarani B, Almatrafi M, Zderic V. Reliability and Variability Assessment of Femoral Artery Pseudoaneurysm Measurements between Pre- and Postprocessed B-mode Ultrasound Images. Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Volume 36, Issue 3, March 2020, https://doi.org/10.1177/8756479320908213.
14. Al-Mekkawy MK, Chen J, Ellis MD, Haemmerich D, Holmes D, Linte C, Panescu D, Pearce J, Prakash P, Zderic V. Therapeutic Systems and Technologies: State-of-the-Art, Applications, Opportunities and Challenges, IEEE Rev Biomed Eng, 2020;13:325-339.
15. Singh T, Suarez Castellanos I, Chatterjee Bhowmick D, Cohen J, Jeremic A, Zderic V. Therapeutic Ultrasound-Induced Insulin Release In Vivo. Ultrasound Med Biol, 2020 Mar;46(3):639-648.

12/24 – present
Reviewer for NIH CSR Special Emphasis Panel ZRG1 MCST-Q for NIGMS-sponsored MIRA (R35) grant applications

5/24 – 1/25
Research Thesis Reader for University of Queensland, Australia

4/23 – 5/24
Reviewer for NIH/CSR ITD Study Section

3/23
Election to full membership at Acoustical Society of America

12/20 – 12/21
Reviewer for NIH/NEI Individual Mentored Career Awards

11/20 – 12/20
Reviewer for the Dutch National Research Funding Agency

09/19 – 3/20
Project Peer and Lead Reviewer of the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia

06/19 – present
Member of Technical Committee on Biomedical Acoustics of the Acoustical Society of America

03/11 – present
Associate Editor for IEEE EMBC meetings

09/06 – present
Reviewer for Ultrasound Med Biol, Ultrasonics, Medical Physics, J of Hyperthermia, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE UFFC Transactions, Scientific Reports

08/10 – present
Member of IEEE EMBS Technical Committee on Therapeutic Systems and Technologies

4/08 – present
Reviewer for IEEE EMBC meetings

12/18 – 12/22
Reviewer for NIH RTB Study Sections

Current Grant support

• NIH/NIBIB 1R01EB027648-01A1 "Therapeutic Ultrasound for Stimulation of Insulin Release", Role: PI, 2020-2025
• GW CDRF grant "Ultrasound Modulation of Circadian Rhythm", Role: PI, 2023-2025
   

• Patent #7,670,291. Vaezy S, Held RT, Sikdar S, Managuli R, Zderic V. Interference-Free Ultrasound Imaging During HIFU Therapy, Using Software Tools. Awarded on March 2^nd, 2010.
• Patent #8,414,494. Vaezy S, Yu J, Zderic V. Thin-profile Therapeutic Ultrasound Applicators. Awarded on April 9^th, 2013.
• Patent #8,611,189.  Vaezy S, Nguyen TN, Zderic V, Foley JL.  Acoustic Coupler using an Independent Water Pillow with Circulation for Cooling a Transducer. Awarded on December 17^th, 2013.
• Patent Application.  Ultrasound-enhanced Drug Delivery for Treatment of Onychomycosis.  Zderic V, Kline-Schoder A, Le Z. Filed in August of 2017.