Rice University Bioengineering

Rice bioengineers Christian Schreib and Elizabeth Kelley have developed a “living bandage” that accelerates healing across multiple wound types.

This discovery addresses a challenge in chronic wounds: it is difficult to deliver sustained, localized treatment that aids tissue repair.

The cytokine factory patch, developed in the lab of Omid Veiseh with the support of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, continuously produces and delivers therapeutic cytokines directly to the wound.

This study is published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/living-bandage-accelerates-healing-across-multiple-wound-types

📢 Bioengineering postdoctoral fellows and senior PhD students nationwide are invited to apply for the 2026-27 Future Leaders in Bioengineering Seminar Series at Rice University.

This annual seminar series hosts leading postdoctoral and doctoral researchers as they present their research and network with faculty in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice. Travel and lodging support for speakers is provided.

The 2026-27 application deadline is June 30. Read more about the program and application instructions: https://bioengineering.rice.edu/news-events/future-leaders-bioengineering

Rice Bioengineering chair Cynthia Reinhart-King joins Houston’s leaders in the healthcare technology space on June 10 for the MIT Houston Forum 2026: Future of Healthcare Technology.

In addition to Dr. Reinhart-King, panelists include Dr. Timothy Boone (Texas A&M School of Engineering Medicine ), Dr. Robert Satcher (UT MD Anderson Cancer Center), Dr. Tony Lin (Kelsey-Seybold Clinic), and healthcare investors Fred Shane and Eric Chan in this forum hosted by The MIT Club of South Texas at Texas A&M School of Engineering Medicine.

Panelists will explore how innovation, policy, and entrepreneurship are reshaping healthcare—and what it takes to unlock the next generation of breakthroughs. Register today: https://alumcommunity.mit.edu/topics/23422/events/245430

Rice bioengineer Antonios Mikos was recently interviewed by the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology.

In this member profile, he shares highlights from his career in biomaterials and tissue engineering, as well as the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and mentorship within Texas’ thriving scientific community. https://tamest.org/news/tamest-member-profile-dr-antonios-g-mikos/

A Rice team, including Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Emilie Newsham Novak, a former bioengineering doctoral student in Richards-Kortum’s lab, has developed realistic ‘mock’ samples to speed cervical cancer test development.

This study addresses a critical bottleneck in global health: the lack of reliable, real-world samples needed to design and validate next-generation point-of-care screening tools for cervical cancer.

Findings from the study, published in the Journal of Medical Virology, could help researchers build better tests faster by giving them samples that truly reflect what clinicians see in patients.

This work was done in collaboration with Emory University and clinicians at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and supported by the National Cancer Institute. https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice-researchers-develop-realistic-mock-samples-speed-cervical-cancer-test-development

It's a big day for immunotherapy for ovarian cancer.

Implantable cytokine factories, which are designed to deliver immunotherapy directly at the site of disease, are one step closer to clinical reality, thanks to Rice Bioengineering's Omid Veiseh and collaborators from UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. A first-in-human trial demonstrates the promise of implantable cytokine factories for ovarian cancer treatment.

“This is a foundational step,” said Veiseh, also a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Scholar and director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad. “We now have evidence that the platform is safe, biologically active and potentially scalable. The next phase is optimizing dosing and exploring combination therapies to unlock its full clinical potential.”

This study was supported by Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, NIH, and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

First-in-human trial demonstrates promise of implantable cytokine factories for ovarian cancer Rice researchers and collaborators at MD Anderson report results from a first-in-human trial evaluating a novel cell-based therapeutic platform in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

A new AI-powered microscope developed by Rice faculty and collaborators at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center could revolutionize early cancer detection.

PrecisionView, developed in part by Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Rice bioengineer and director of Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies, is a handheld endomicroscope that overcomes limitations in medical imaging by combining advanced optics with deep learning.

“Early detection is one of the most critical factors in improving cancer outcomes, but today’s tools often force clinicians to choose between detail and coverage,” said Rebecca Richards-Kortum. “With PrecisionView, we no longer have to make that trade-off — we can see both clearly and in real time.”
Rice University Electrical & Computer Engineering chair Ashok Veeraraghavan is a co-author along with Richard-Kortum on this study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Huayu Hou, a graduate student in Richards-Kortum’s Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging Laboratory, is an author on the paper. https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/ai-powered-handheld-microscope-aims-spot-cancer-earlier

Today was about celebrating bioengineering excellence at Rice.

Congratulations to all who were honored at the Bioengineering Graduate Commencement Reception. We are proud of these outstanding students who are leading the way in research, innovation and service:

Outstanding Early Research Achievement Award: Mehnaz Urbee Jahangir
Excellence in Research Award: Mingming Cao
Outstanding Achievement in Bioengineering Award: Maria Barra
Excellence in Outreach, Engagement, and/or Service Award: Jeffrey Alejandro Vanegas
2026 BIOE Dissertation Award: Tyler Graf
Outstanding MBE (Applied Bioengineering) Student: Kyle Young
Outstanding MBE (Global Medical Innovations) Student: Zachary Huang
Christiaan Scholtz Award: Daniela Najmias Lang

Today we celebrate Rice Bioengineering's 2026 graduating class!

We began the day with an Order of the Engineer induction ceremony, where graduates made the commitment to pursue their careers with ethics and integrity.

After the ceremony, we celebrated with graduates, families, faculty and alumni as the next generation of Rice Bioengineering Owls takes flight. Congratulations, Class of 2026! 🦉 🎓

From Rice labs to national recognition:

Multiple student-led ventures from Rice Bioengineering recently took top honors at the Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition.

Bionostic secured first place in the Advanced Health Track. Founded by doctoral candidate Alexandria Carter in collaboration with Michael King’s lab, the venture is advancing innovative cancer diagnostic solutions.

DialySafe earned first place and MedIQ Health took second place in the Digital Health Track. DialySafe, founded by graduate student Ibrahim Al-Akash, is developing technology designed to reduce human error and improve patient safety during dialysis treatments. MedIQ Health team members include Suran Somawardana, Patrick Bednarz, Jacob Lei and Mira Srinivasa, and they are building a smart asthma management platform.

This is what look like at Rice University School of Engineering and Computing. Congratulations to all three ventures for the well-deserved recognition.

Rice student ventures sweep top honors at Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition Multiple Rice-led student ventures earned top honors across categories at the Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition. The founders built these winning businesses through Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie), underscoring the university’s growing leadership in heal...