Abstract
Focused ultrasound (FUS) with microbubbles (MBs) can enhance delivery of impermeable materials into cells for eliminating abnormal cells or enhancing gene transfection. Very few of the existing systems can precisely control cellular physiology. Chemically-inducible dimerization (CID) system has already gained widespread popularity as a tool in cell biology and has been used to address the diverse, yet fundamental biological questions. Although remotely triggering CID system by external stimuli such as light has been developed, it is still challenging to deliver light to the tissues deeper than just 2 mm without any invasive surgical procedures. This study proposed a new ultrasound-chemical hybrid system to trigger the CID system by FUS with MBs. With FUS, membrane impermeable chemical dimerizers can be introduced into cells to spatiotemporally control cellular physiology within timescale of minutes.