Zerin Khan, a fifth-year undergraduate student in the biotechnology program, placed third at the design competition of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society International Student Conference.
Zerin Khan
This year, the National Capital Region hosted the student-organized conference for the first time; the event offered an opportunity for students to showcase their engineering innovation and creativity by addressing an issue in biomedical engineering. Zerin’s solo project, titled "Development of DNA Aptamers against Human Red Blood Cells: A Novel Drug Delivery System" won third place among 15 submissions from around the world.
Boguslaw Kruczek, Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, commented: “To be among the top 15 submissions from around the world and be allowed to compete at the recent IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society International Student Conference would already be a great accomplishment, but coming third in this prestigious competition is really a fabulous achievement! Congratulations, Zerin!”
Zerin herself shared her view on this experience: “This award means a lot to me. […] It was really gratifying to be able to apply the knowledge I had gained from my research project to develop the design for the drug delivery system. Since I began the biotechnology program at uOttawa, it had always been my dream to be able to combine my knowledge from my biochemistry and chemical engineering classes together for further studies and research.”