Preclinical FUS Research
The first platform to unlock the full translational spectrum of focused ultrasound
From cell-level drug screening to awake, freely moving animal studies, Bellwether gives your lab stereotaxic precision, consistent parameters, and publication-ready data outputs in one integrated system.
440μm
Focal point precision
<1μm
Deflection stability at 1N load
50×
Faster FUS-drug screening
0-100 MPa
Peak negative pressure range
The platform
One drive system.
Every experimental context.
A single NanoTone™ core powers four purpose-built adapters. The same acoustic parameters that run in your cell assays carry directly into your in vivo studies, with no recalibration and no translation gap.
NanoTone™
FUS DRIVE SYSTEM
Stereotaxic-precision hardware and WaveForge Pro™ planning software in one integrated unit. Set parameters, simulate focal points, and run your experiment from a single interface.
- Stereotaxic arm for repeatable, submillimeter targeting
- Sub-micron deflection stability (<1μm at 1N load)
- Pulsed, continuous, LIFU, and HIFU modes
- True CAD modeling of FUS focal points
- 0-100 MPa peak negative pressure range
MouseWalk™
Free-moving mouse adapter
Run FUS protocols in fully awake, freely behaving animals. Integrated bluetooth levers and real-time tracking feed directly into WaveEdge™ for synchronized behavioral and stimulation data.
- Head-fixed or freely moving, configurable per session
- Stainless steel head bar for stability during movement
- Bluetooth levers for behavioral task integration
- Real-time XY trajectory and locomotion tracking
MouseHouse™
Head-fixed mouse adapter
A controlled, quiet enclosure for awake or anesthetized head-fixed experiments. Run multiple units in parallel when your protocol demands throughput without sacrificing rigor.
- Awake or anesthetized head fixation
- Scalable, with multiple units running in parallel
- Acoustic isolation for cleaner recordings
- Compatible with operant conditioning protocols
CellTone™
HIGH-THROUGHPUT SCREENING ADAPTER
Screen FUS-drug combinations 50× faster with four simultaneous wells in standard 96-well plates. Parameters stay identical to your in vivo setup, so your findings carry forward cleanly.
- Multi-plate set up with 96 wells/plate
- Identical acoustic parameters to in vivo studies
- Validated on human tumor-associated macrophages
- Proven phenotypic polarization control
WaveEdge™
Multimodal research software
WaveEdge™ is the data and connectivity layer that ties your entire experiment together. It captures time-stamped events across every modality in your protocol and synchronizes FUS delivery with the full range of tools already in your lab.
- Time-stamped events across animal behavior, neuronal activity, and stimulation protocols
- XY trajectory plots, locomotion curves, spatial heat maps, and ML behavioral state classification
- Publication-ready graph outputs, all export-ready
Connects with your existing research tools
WaveEdge™ synchronizes FUS delivery with your existing imaging, recording, and stimulation tools so every event in your experiment is captured in a single unified timeline.
- 2-photon microscopy
- Electrophysiology probes
- Optogenetics fiber optics
- Focused ultrasound
- Behavioral assays
Why it matters
Designed to close the gaps that stall FUS research
Preclinical FUS research has long been constrained by tools that weren’t built for it. Bellwether was designed from the ground up to remove those constraints.
Awake animal studies, finally accessible
Anesthesia confounds neuromodulation data. MouseWalk™ and MouseHouse™ let you run FUS protocols in fully awake, behaving animals so your results reflect real biology.
Parameters that carry from bench to brain
CellTone™ uses the same acoustic parameters as your in vivo work. What you discover at the cell level is directly reproducible in the animal, with no parameter re-mapping required.
Publication-ready outputs built in
WaveEdge™ generates time-stamped behavioral and stimulation data with XY trajectory plots, locomotion curves, spatial heat maps, and ML behavioral state classification, all export-ready.
Research gaps Bellwether was built to solve
Imprecise targeting
Stereotaxic guidance brings sub-millimeter reproducibility to every experiment, every session.
Anesthesia confounds
Awake head-fixed and freely moving protocols let you study FUS effects in physiologically intact animals.
Slow drug-combination screening
CellTone™ processes four wells simultaneously, cutting FUS-drug discovery timelines by 50×.
Parameter discontinuity
One drive system spans cell work and animal studies so in vitro findings translate directly in vivo.
Incomplete data capture
WaveEdge™ records behavioral, neuronal, and stimulation events with millisecond time-stamping for full experimental traceability.
Applications
Built for every research environment
Whether you are running drug discovery assays, publishing foundational neuroscience, or treating animal patients, Bellwether has a protocol for your work.
PHARMA AND CROS
Accelerate preclinical pipelines
Bellwether brings standardized, reproducible FUS parameters to drug discovery workflows, so your preclinical data holds up under scrutiny and translates into clinical design.
- Oncology: glioblastoma, brain metastases, and tumor immunomodulation assays
- Neuroscience: blood-brain barrier opening for CNS drug delivery
- Pain management: non-invasive targeted neuromodulation protocols
- Psychiatry: depression, addiction, and PTSD preclinical models
ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS AND LABS
Power multimodal research programs
From single-investigator labs to large consortium grants, Bellwether integrates into existing experimental setups and gives researchers the parameter control and data quality that publications demand.
- Neuromodulation, BBB opening, and thermal ablation studies
- Histotripsy and sonodynamic pro-drug therapy with nanoparticles
- Multimodal experiments combining FUS with electrophysiology, imaging, and optogenetics
- Awake behavioral neuroscience with synchronized FUS stimulation
VETERINARY CLINICS
Expand treatment options for animal patients
Focused ultrasound opens a non-invasive treatment pathway for conditions that have limited options in veterinary medicine, without the recovery burden of surgery.
- Oncology therapies for solid tumors
- Intracranial therapies and neuromodulation
- Decalcification of soft tissue mineralization