Three doctoral engineering students won $10,000 as one of 10 groups of finalists for their biomedical engineering project at a national competition.
Raymond Kozikowski, Jennifer Lee and Sarah Smith will participate in the Prize for Primary Health Care competition finals on June 3. They will have the chance to win a prize of up to $150,000.
The group used lasers to create a device that can detect cancerous tissue with light, Kozikowski said. This device is not as harmful and is more direct than other methods of detecting cancerous tissue, he said.
“The laser technique hones in on specific molecules,” he said.
The team’s research will be published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics.
This is the first time UF students have entered the contest. Kozikowski learned about the competition and said he thought the project was perfect for it.
The team is using the $10,000 to work on the laser set-up and build the apparatus they hope to see in clinics, said team member Lee, 25.
In their first round of experiments, they tested the device on animal skin cancer. Now, they are going to test on oral cancer in animals.
Lee said the competition allows students to showcase their research, which is rare.
“What’s great about this competition is it allows students to be a little more creative and go further with their research,” Lee said.
