OPALS Research Conference Awards

2025 International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB) 

• Best Oral Presentation Awards 
  • Micah Tang, Ruoxi Chen, for the oral presentation entitled “Investigating the Neurotoxicity of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) on Rat Pheochromocytoma (PC12) Cells”
  • Kate Zhao, Angela Shen for the oral presentation entitled “Laser-Induced Shockwave Triggers Variable GFAP Expression: Insights into Neural Stress Response”
  • Naomi Lee for the oral presentation entitled “Does DNA damage increase the presence of DNA Rods?” 

• Best Poster Presentation Awards 
  • David Liu, Aarav Patel, for the poster entitled “Development of an Augmented Reality Surgical Navigation System Based on Multiple ArUco Markers”
  • Prisha Malhotra, Kelson Jin, for the poster entitled “Impacts of DNA damage levels on P16 expression after Laser Ablation”

All nine awardees received free registration for the 2026 ICBEB Conference. 

2025 International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Systems (ICBES)

• Best Paper Awards

• • Aspen Lee for the paper entitled “RIN3 Protein Mutation and Astrocyte Dynamics in the Hippocampus: Implications for Alzheimer’s Disease”. Authors: Jiyeon Song, Yicheng Zhao, Aspen Lee, Medha Ravi, Cindy Kuei, Jihoo Hyun, Linda Shi, Chengbiao Wu, Kijung Sung. 
  • Sarah Li for the paper entitled “Cigarette Smoke-Induced Cell Morphology via Keyence and Zeiss Microscopy”. Authors: Sarah Li, Angie Sun, Yu-Sin (Jennifer) Ou, Huiying Huang, Wei Sun, Veronica Gomez-Godinez, Linda Shi. 

2023 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)

• Outstanding High School Student Chapter Award – Torrey Pines High School