At a WVU summer research experience focused on ‘biosensors,’ U.S. undergraduates develop new technologies for healing

WVU biomedical engineer Soumya Srivastava is launching a new Research Experience for Undergraduates that will involve students from across the U.S. in efforts to develop sensor technologies for better health. (WVU Photo/Brian Persinger)

Starting this summer, undergraduate students from colleges and universities across the U.S. will converge on West Virginia University for the chance to contribute directly to developing new “biosensing” technologies, which gather data from the body and use that information to improve wellness or detect and treat disease.

Story by Micaela Morrissette, director, WVU Research Office Communciations
Photos by Brian Persinger

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Soumya Srivastava , associate professor of chemical and biomedical engineering in the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, is recruiting students to join a new WVU Research Experience for Undergraduates, funded by the National Science Foundation. Applications are now open.

Each student will work in the lab of a mentor who focuses on a specific aspect of biosensors. For instance, a student who works with Loren Rieth, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, may research the use of sensor technologies in high-tech prosthetics that interact directly with the nervous system.

A student mentored by Associate Professor Margaret Bennewitz, on the other hand, could work on new sensor technologies for detecting breast cancer.

In Srivastava’s lab, participants will contribute to her National Institutes of Health-funded efforts to build sensors that can identify the particular type of infection someone has, based on the electrical signatures of different cells in their bodies.

For diseases that range from pancreatic cancer to tick-borne infections, the REU students can contribute to original research with life-saving potential, she said.

Other Statler College faculty mentors include Professor Srinivas Palanki, Professor Yuxin Liu, Assistant Professor Stephen Cain and Assistant Professor Moriah Katt.

The ten-week program will take place starting in mid-May of 2026, 2027 and 2028, with a different cohort participating each year.

“The students will do hands-on research across a huge range of areas,” Srivastava said. “Some will choose to study sensors used in miniaturization and microfabrication technologies. Others will experiment with sensors that detect novel ‘bio-recognition molecules.’ They’ll all contribute to the Statler College Summer Engineering Challenge camps, adapting some of these experiments to teach elementary and middle school students about STEM. And they’ll experience weekly presentations, workshops, a unique entrepreneurship boot camp and the WVU Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. Our goal is for each student to leave equipped for high-skill, tech-focused careers.”

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