Michael’s research focuses on three areas:

1. Early phase clinical trials of ultrasound-mediated drug delivery for treatment of abdominal organ cancers
2. Clinical translation of quantitative cavitation monitoring techniques for non-invasive treatment guidance
3. Development of devices to enable targeted drug delivery

Therapy and Drug Delivery

Ms Veerle Brans - Research Staff
Professor Robert Carlisle - Academic
Professor Robin Cleveland - Academic
Miss Abigail Collins - DPhil Student
Professor Constantin Coussios - Academic
Mr Darcy Dunn-Lawless - DPhil Student
Dr Brian Lyons - Research Staff
Dr Jeffrey Rubasingham - DPhil Student
Professor Eleanor Stride - Academic

Leveraging focused ultrasound to improve immunotherapy responses in pancreatic cancer

In collaboration with Dr. Keaton Jones (Surgical Sciences), we are exploring how focused ultrasound interacts with the immune system and different immunotherapy drugs, to identify the best combination therapy to treat pancreatic cancer. Supported by Pancreatic Cancer UK

Immunomodulation with focused ultrasound

We are developing techniques for ultrasound-mediated immunomodulation with application to abdominal organ cancers. This work is supported by NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Oxford. Highlighted accomplishments include:

• • First demonstration of a handheld ultrasound system for cavitation mediated ultrasound therapy on human tumour-bearing livers sustained on a normothermic perfusion system
  • Development and first demonstration of an immune modulating nanoparticle formulation suitable for clinical-grade manufacturing
  • Validation of a new clinical therapeutic ultrasound system for thermal and mechanical (cavitation) treatments

Collins, A., Coussios, C., and Gray, M.D. (2026). Deconvolution Approaches for Energy-Preserving Spatiotemporal Cavitation Dosimetry using Passive Acoustic Mapping. Ultrasonics 166, 108082. DOI

Brans, V.A., Constantinou, A.P., Kibble, M.J., Nele, V., Reumann, D. Bau, L., Callens, S.J.P., Armstrong, J.P.K., Newell, N., Coussios, C.C., Stevens, M.M., & Gray, M.D. (2025). Ultrasound-triggered gelation for restoring biomechanical properties of degenerated functional spinal units. Adv. Healthcare Materials 15(7), e01823. DOI.

Fuenteslópez, C.V., Gray, M.D., Bahcevanci, S., Martin, A., Smith, Cameron, Coussios, C., Cui, Z., Ye, H., & Patrulea, V. (2024). Mesenchymal stem cell cryopreservation with cavitation-mediated trehalose treatment. Commun Eng 3(129). DOI

Gray, M.D., Spiers, L., & Coussios, C. (2023). Sound speed and attenuation of human pancreas and pancreatic tumors and their influence on focused ultrasound thermal and mechanical therapies. Medical Physics 51: 809-825, DOI

Gray, M.D., Spiers, L., & Coussios, C. (2022). Effects of human tissue acoustic properties, abdominal wall shape, and respiratory motion on ultrasound-mediated hyperthermia for targeted drug delivery to pancreatic tumors. International Journal of Hyperthermia 39(1), 918-934, DOI

Gray, M.D., Elbes, D., Paverd, C., Lyka, E., Coviello, C., Cleveland, R., & Coussios, C. (2021). Dual array passive acoustic mapping for cavitation imaging with enhanced 2-D resolution. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control 68(3), 647-663, DOI

Beguin, E., Gray, M.D., Logan, K.A., Nesbitt, H., Sheng, Y., Kamila, S., Barnsley, L.C., Bau, L., McHale, A.P., Callan, J.F., & Stride, E. (2020). Magnetic microbubble mediated chemo-sonodynamic therapy using a combined magnetic-acoustic device. Journal of Controlled Release 317, 23-33, DOI

Gray, M.D., Lyon, P.C., Mannaris, C., Folkes, L.K., Stratford, M., Campo, L., Chung, D.Y.F., Scott, S., Anderson, M., Goldin, R., Carlisle, R., Wu, F., Middleton, M.R., Gleeson, F.V., & Coussios, C.C. (2019). Focused Ultrasound Hyperthermia for Targeted Drug Release from Thermosensitive Liposomes: Results from a Phase I Trial. Radiology 291, 232-238, DOI

Gray, M.D. and Coussios, C.C. (2018). Broadband ultrasonic attenuation estimation and compensation with passive acoustic mapping. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control 65(11), 1997-2011, DOI

Sengupta, A., Gray, M.D., Kelly, S.C., Holguin, S., Thadhani, N., & Prausnitz, M.R. (2017). Energy transfer mechanisms during molecular delivery to cells by laser-activated carbon nanoparticles.  Biophysical Journal 112, 1258-1269, DOI

Full Listing at Google Scholar

2024/25 MPLS Award for Outstanding Research Supervision

Recent Student Recognition:

• • Hugo Carlisle: Department of Engineering Science Research Internship (for excellence in his 4YP, 2026)
  • Holly Passant: Qualcomm Award for Best Biomedical 4YP (2025)

B17: Biomedical fluid mechanics

Biomedical ultrasound coursework module