Kavya Singampalli, an M.D./Ph.D. dual-degree student at the Baylor College of Medicine and Rice Department of Bioengineering, received the Best Student Oral Presentation Award at the 37th Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems held in Austin from Jan. 21-25.
Her presentation was selected out of 20 that were nominated for the award. Singampalli’s talk was titled “Microwell-patterned microfluidic device for rapid identification of high-affinity anti-tumor cells.”
She works in the research lab of Peter Lillehoj, Shankle Chair and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering (MECH) at Rice. Her co-authors are Desh Deepak Dixit, fourth-year doctoral student in MECH at Rice; Peixin Jiang, research laboratory coordinator at MD Anderson Cancer Center; Alexandre Reuben, cancer immunologist at MD Anderson; and Lillehoj.
Singampalli earned her B.S. and M.S. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University before starting her training through the Baylor College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program. She expects to earn her Ph.D. from Rice this year, after which she plans to return to Baylor College of Medicine to complete her M.D.