Inventor Profiles

Research area The Sonic Interactions with Materials (SonIMate) Mechanics group focuses on understanding the mechanics of ultrasound interaction with soft materials (synthetic and biological) and leverages that understanding to develop innovative solutions in non-invasive therapy and targeted drug delivery. Physical concepts from different fields, such as wave physics, material mechanics and fluid dynamics, are applied to design technologies for various biomedical applications. A variety of tools, including analytical methods, computational modeling and experiments (in vitro and in vivo), are used to implement these technologies.

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What excites you about your work? 

“I see myself as a kind of scientific detective—always chasing the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind what I see. Every microbubble, every shift in the tissue induced by the bubble tells a story, and I get to uncover it. I use ultrasound to interact with soft biological materials via acoustic cavitation, not just to observe them, but to actively shape them for therapeutic use. That means constantly asking questions, digging deeper and following clues. The best part? I learn something new every single day—and that constant sense of discovery is what keeps me hooked.”

What do you hope to achieve? 

“Ultimately, I hope to use ultrasound as a noninvasive way to target and break down fibrotic environments and abnormally stiff extracellular matrices, which are common features in many diseases. Through ultrasound cavitation—using oscillating bubbles—we can mechanically modulate these fibrous networks, temporarily or permanently. That could mean softening stiff tissue, breaking down excess collagen or even reprogramming the environment around cells to make therapies more effective. My goal is to understand the mechanics behind this process, so we can precisely tune the structure of the ECM, potentially slowing disease progression and making therapies work better. Looking ahead, I envision this technique being tailored for specific diseases and eventually brought into clinical use as a targeted, non-invasive strategy to recondition pathological tissue environments that right now are really hard to manage.”

Prof. Bhargava’s work utilizing ultrasound to manipulate soft tissues through acoustic cavitation is opening up new frontiers for drug delivery and non-invasive medicine. WARF is excited to continue our partnership with Aarushi to see where her research leads.

– Jeanine Burmania, WARF, Senior Director, IP and Licensing