The National Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood has awarded $2.8M to a team led by professor Lilo Pozzo to develop a technology that breaks blood clots non-invasively using light. The treatment is based on new nano-emulsion dispersions that have the ability to transform from liquid to vapor upon excitation with laser light. The rapid expansion associated with phase change creates a pressure wave that is powerful enough to break blood clots while allowing visualization of their location with ultrasound. This approach should be especially useful for the treatment of dialysis patients that have a large propensity for clotting in the fistula used to withdraw and clean blood. The NIH grant will fund five years of work in the Pozzo group and in collaborators Matt O’donnell (Bioengineering), Tom Matula (Applied Physics Laboratory) and Wayne Monsky (Radiology) laboratories.