Hopkins BME undergrads showcase their research at the 2019 BMES Mid-Atlantic Research Day

On April 12, biomedical engineering students from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland gathered on the Hopkins Homewood campus for the annual Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Mid-Atlantic Research Day. First held ten years ago as a research day for Johns Hopkins BME undergraduates, the event expanded to include universities from across the Mid-Atlantic region in 2013. Now co-hosted by the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland BMES chapters, the Mid-Atlantic Research Day provides an opportunity for undergraduate students from regional universities to showcase their research through oral and poster presentations. Held in alternating years on the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland campuses, the Mid-Atlantic Research Day has included participants from the University of Delaware and George Mason, Penn State, and Widener Universities in past years.

“At Hopkins, a lot of students do research on their own, but there are not many opportunities to present to our peers, faculty, and industry leaders,” said Tejasvi Desai, a second-year Hopkins BME student and BMES board member who helped organize the event. “This experience allows us to expand beyond our Hopkins bubble and learn about the great research at other schools. When we learn about each other’s work, we can promote new ideas.”

This year’s BMES Mid-Atlantic Research Day featured twenty poster and oral presentations, which were judged by a panel of faculty and industry experts. The event also included a networking lunch and a keynote address by Jennifer Elisseeff, Morton Goldberg Professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins.

Sandeep Kambhampati, a second-year student studying biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins, earned first place for his presentation on blood flow measurements. Using ultrasound, Kambhampati is working with faculty and clinical mentors Amir Manbachi and Nicholas Theodore to monitor spinal cord blood flow in patients with spinal cord injury, and is designing a device that will allow doctors to prescribe treatments based on these measurements.

“I think events like this are important as they allow undergraduates to show off all of the hard work they have been doing, as well as improve upon their communication skills,” said Kambhampati. “Science is a collaborative effort, and a big part of science is effectively communicating what you do so that others can build upon your work.”

This year’s judges included Andrew Flannery, Director of New Product Development at PathSensors; Matthew Davenport, Director of Engineering at Gemstone Biotherapeutics; Corbin Clawson, Director of Engineering at Longeviti Neuro Solutions; and Chin-Fu Liu, a fourth-year biomedical engineering PhD student at Johns Hopkins.

In addition to Kambhampati, other student winners include:

2^nd place: Emily Chang (Hopkins BME second-year student)

Project name: A Sample-Loading Microfluidic Droplet-in-Oil Partitioning Device for Rapid Phenotypic AST in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae

3^rd place: Marion Pang (Hopkins BME second-year student)

Project name: Automated Determination of Nanoparticle Morphology via Transmission Electron Microscopy Image Analysis

Best Poster: Thomas DiSorbo (Hopkins BME third-year student), Andrew Efimov (Hopkins BME fourth-year student), and Jeong Hun Kim (Hopkins electrical engineering fourth-year student)

Project name: Development of Low Level Light Therapy for Retinitis Pigmentosa

“We appreciated everyone’s excitement to showcase their incredible research at our event, as we know the process can be daunting,” said Shravya Gogula, a Hopkins BME fourth-year student who also helped organize the event. “There was a great turnout for the poster presentations, and I was glad to see so many undergrads come and listen to what their peers had to present. We were incredibly impressed by the work that everyone does at both Hopkins and UMD, and we hope that even more students come to participate next year!”