By John Dudley, University Communications and Marketing
A Tampa Bay-based innovation backed by more than three decades of federally funded
university research is poised to change how cancer drugs are delivered — using electricity
and gentle heat instead of invasive procedures or high-dose chemotherapy. The technology
is now in veterinary cancer trials, the final step before planned human clinical testing.
Veterinarian Dr. Erin Roof treats the cancer of a family cat using the LifePulse device
[Photo courtesy of Bull Market Creative]
The device utilizes short bursts of electric pulses to deliver cancer drugs [Photo
courtesy of Bull Market Creative]
LifePulse Bioscience, a biotech startup spun out of the University of South Florida, has developed a device
that enables precise, localized delivery of cancer drugs through short bursts of electric
pulses. The work is supported by approximately $35 million in federal grants, including
from the National Institutes of Health, and led by longtime USF biomedical researcher
Richard Heller, a pioneer in the field of electroporation.
“This started as a fundamental question about how to get medicine inside a cell,”
Heller said. “By using electric fields, we can open temporary pathways in cell membranes
so that drugs or genes can get inside and do their job.”
Heller began exploring electric-field drug delivery in the early 1990s and was soon
joined by then-graduate student Mark Jaroszeski, now a professor of medical engineering at USF. They conducted the first U.S. clinical
trials delivering chemotherapy to solid tumors. From there they worked together to
establish USF as a leader in gene electrotransfer research, conducting the first clinical
trial in the world using electric fields to deliver DNA-based treatments.
USF Professor Richard Heller, medical engineering
USF Professor Mark Jaroszeski, medical engineering
Gary Strange, LifePulse Bioscience investor
A breakthrough came in 2019, when Heller met Gary Strange, an investor struggling
to commercialize a European technology in the same space.
“After about 10 months beating my head against a wall with that, I met Dr. Heller,”
Strange said. “And that’s when everything changed.”
Heller and Jaroszeski had already optimized the electrical parameters and electrodes,
but a key discovery – adding mild heat and monitoring tissue impedance – made the
process far more efficient. Tissue impedance is the amount of resistance that skin
and other tissues have to electrical current.
“We found that gently warming tissue to about 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
before pulsing, and using real-time electrical feedback to guide the process, increased
delivery success rates by roughly tenfold, Jaroszeski said. “That was the breakthrough
that made it commercializable.”
Built in Tampa Bay, tested by Florida veterinarians
LifePulse Bioscience applies a short series of low-energy electrical pulses directly
to tumors, temporarily opening pores in cancer cells so drugs can enter and attack
the disease at its source. The localized treatment reduces the need for high systemic
doses and minimizes the widespread side effects of treatments such as chemotherapy.
The devices are designed and built by Clearwater-based medical equipment manufacturer
Concise Engineering, led by USF MBA graduate Justin Bushko.
Bushko helped refine the system’s hardware for reliability and consistency in clinical
use, and he is delighted to see his company play a role in its commercialization.
“The opportunity to take something that started as university research and turn it
into a product that’s being used in real treatments — that’s what every engineer dreams
of. The fact that it’s being built right here in Tampa Bay makes it even better.”Justin Bushko
USF alum and founder of Concise Engineering in Clearwater
The company’s next-generation modular electrode design allows adaption for different
tumor sizes and sites – potentially extending applications from veterinary cancers
to human skin and internal tumors.
“Patients don’t get sick from this procedure,” said Dr. Erin Roof of Florida-based
Animal Cancer Care Clinic, one of several veterinarians now participating in early clinical use. “The whole
process takes about an hour, usually just one or two treatments. Side effects are
minimal — maybe some redness or flakiness around the site — and most patients go home
and feel fantastic.”
Roof said her practice adopted the therapy to give owners access to a less strenuous,
more affordable cancer treatment option.
“The results are night and day,” said Strange, who recently finalized an international
distribution agreement for the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom with Patterson
Veterinary, a $4.1 billion global vet distribution company.
He hopes the deal sets the stage for additional investment and rapid growth.
From grant funding to real-world impact
LifePulse Bioscience’s progress underscores the value of sustained federal research
investment, most recently being awarded a $2 million NIH Small Business Innovation
Research grant to bridge the gap between academic discovery and market-ready technology.
“That $35 million wasn’t venture capital,” Jaroszeski said. “It was public funding
that let us build a strong scientific foundation. Now investors are coming because
the science is already de-risked.”
The ongoing veterinary trials are considered translational, providing data to inform
FDA submissions for human use. If outcomes continue to show promise, Heller believes
the first human clinical trials could begin within the next year.
“We already have clinicians talking with us who want to use this technology in human
studies,” he said. “Our next steps are completing the veterinary data, building more
systems and moving through the FDA process.”
While LifePulse Bioscience is beginning in veterinary oncology, its platform could
one day deliver a broad range of treatments precisely without systemic toxicity. Strange
and Heller hope its impact will ultimately be measured by effective, milder, more
affordable cancer treatments.
“How many good drugs that could be game changers for people have failed efficacy because
they had no delivery mechanism to get them there?” Strange said. “For these scientists
and for me, it’s got nothing to do with the money. Will it be worth a lot of money?
I’m sure it will. But it’s about getting this technology into the clinic to help people
who need it.”
