Breaking the Wall of Artificial Hibernation

Breaking the Wall of Artificial Hibernation

Global Call 2026 Finalist Interview: Engineering & Technology

Hong Chen is a professor of biomedical engineering and neurosurgery at Washington University in St. Louis.  Her group works to advance the field of NeuroSonics by integrating breakthroughs in neuroscience and ultrasonics to develop noninvasive ultrasound technologies that deepen our understanding of brain function and transform the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases. Her innovations have advanced from laboratory discoveries to clinical trials and commercialization. 

Which wall does your research or project break?  

Natural hibernators survive extreme conditions by entering a low-metabolic state in which body temperature and energy consumption fall dramatically. Humans cannot naturally enter this state, and medicine has no precise way to induce it. Earlier approaches relied largely on drugs or whole-body cooling, which can be difficult to target and control. More recent research has manipulated brain circuits regulating metabolism using genetic techniques, implanted devices, or surgery. Although valuable for understanding biology, these approaches are poorly suited for broad clinical use.

One central challenge is reaching the deep brain circuits that regulate metabolism and body temperature without damaging the brain or opening the skull. Our project addresses this challenge using focused ultrasound, which concentrates sound energy through the skull onto a small brain target. We demonstrated in rodents that this stimulation can produce a reversible hibernation-like state, lowering body temperature and metabolic activity without drugs, surgery, or genetic modification.

This breakthrough begins to dismantle the wall, but important challenges remain. We must determine the neural and molecular mechanisms involved, achieve reliable control over the depth and duration of metabolic suppression, establish safety and full reversibility, and demonstrate feasibility across species. By overcoming these barriers, we seek to transform artificial hibernation from an imagined possibility into a controllable medical technology.


What is the main goal of your research or project?

The main goal of our project is to develop a safe, noninvasive, and controllable method for inducing artificial hibernation using focused ultrasound. Rather than cooling the entire body or administering drugs, we aim to activate specific brain circuits that naturally regulate body temperature and metabolism, allowing the body to enter and exit a protective low-energy state on demand.

To achieve this goal, our research integrates neuroscience, ultrasound engineering, and physiology. First, we investigate how ultrasound interacts with brain circuits that regulate metabolism and identify the neural and molecular pathways that drive the hibernation-like response. Second, we optimize where, when, and how ultrasound is delivered so that reductions in body temperature and metabolic activity are precise, reproducible, and reversible. We also seek to develop feedback-controlled approaches that monitor the body’s response and adjust ultrasound delivery in real time. Third, we evaluate whether induced metabolic suppression protects the brain and other organs under conditions in which oxygen and blood flow are limited. Finally, we test feasibility across species, an essential step toward determining whether the technology can ultimately be translated to humans.

Our rodent studies provide the foundation that focused ultrasound can noninvasively induce a reversible hibernation-like state. The project’s broader objective is not simply to lower body temperature, but to establish a new way to control whole-body metabolism through targeted brain stimulation. Success would create both a research platform for understanding how the brain governs systemic physiology and a foundation for future therapies based on temporary, reversible metabolic suppression


What impact does your research or project have on society?

Our research could introduce a new way of protecting human life in situations where time, oxygen, and energy are critically limited. During stroke, cardiac arrest, severe trauma, or major surgery, blood flow may no longer supply enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body’s needs. Current medicine primarily tries to restore the supply. Artificial hibernation adds a complementary strategy: temporarily reduce demand. By slowing metabolism, it may limit irreversible damage and extend the window for emergency treatment, transport, or surgery. This approach could have benefits beyond acute care. Reversible metabolic suppression may improve preservation of donor organs, allowing them to remain viable longer and potentially expanding access to transplantation. It could also provide new ways to study and eventually treat disorders involving metabolism. More speculative long-term applications include slowing cancer growth, supporting healthy aging, and enabling long-duration human space travel, where conserving resources and protecting the body from prolonged stress are major challenges. The project is already influencing research by showing that whole-body physiological states can be controlled noninvasively through precisely targeted brain stimulation. This opens new questions about how the brain coordinates metabolism, temperature, cardiovascular function, and behavior. We recognize that the technology is still at an early stage and has so far been demonstrated in rodents. Its societal value will depend on rigorous testing of mechanisms, safety, reversibility, and cross-species feasibility. 

What advice would you give to young scientists or students interested in pursuing a career in research, or to your younger self starting in science?

I would offer three pieces of advice to young scientists and to my younger self: Dream big. Take action. Stay curious.

Dream big. Do not limit yourself to questions that are already considered realistic or easy to solve. Choose problems that matter, even if the path forward is unclear. When I began exploring artificial hibernation, the idea still seemed closer to science fiction than medicine. Yet ambitious questions challenge us to think differently and can open possibilities that incremental thinking may never reveal.

Take action. A bold vision becomes science only when you design the first experiment. Do not wait for the perfect plan, complete confidence, or every necessary resource. Start with what you have, test the most fundamental assumption, and let evidence guide the next step. Experiments will fail, proposals will be rejected, and some paths will close. These are not verdicts on your potential; they are part of the process. Progress rarely follows a straight line, but action creates opportunities that planning alone cannot.

Stay curious. Protect your curious mind as you grow older. When results contradict your hypothesis, do not immediately dismiss them; ask what nature may be trying to teach you. Learn beyond your own discipline and collaborate with people who see the problem differently. Many of the most creative advances occur at the boundaries between fields.

Finally, do not measure your scientific journey by papers, grants, or titles. Measure it by whether you are pursuing meaningful questions, turning ideas into experiments, and growing through discovery. Dream gives you direction, action creates momentum, and curiosity reveals where to go next.


What inspired you to be in the profession you are today?

While studying ultrasound physics as a graduate student, a skiing accident temporarily disrupted my short-term memory. Although I fully recovered, the experience sparked a lasting fascination with the brain. It inspired me to build a career integrating ultrasound with neuroscience to develop and advance the field of NeuroSonics. 
 

What is one surprising fact about your research or project that people might not know?

Our artificial-hibernation research began with an apparent setback: a manuscript using ultrasound-generated heating to activate neurons engineered with heat-sensitive ion channels was rejected by more than ten journals because the heating was considered both a confounding effect and a safety concern. That criticism prompted us to reverse the question: could we intentionally harness this heating to activate the brain’s natural temperature-sensitive circuits? This turned publication frustration into the starting point for ultrasound-induced artificial hibernation.

What’s the most exciting moment you've experienced over the course of your research or project?

The most exciting moments have been seeing my trainees become professors and begin building their own research programs. Their success and growing impact are among the most rewarding outcomes of my career.