Undergrad wins top research honors at Harvard conference

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Engineers at The Ohio State University are working to create computers that wade through data and learn how to detect cancer at the nanoscale.

Dinank Gupta, an undergraduate electrical and computer engineering student, recently took home top honors at the National Collegiate Research Conference (NCRC) at Harvard for his research in this field. He won first place in the engineering/life sciences research category.

Gupta is working under the guidance of ECE research assistant professor Dr. M. R. Yousefi.

“My research is based upon the application of pattern recognition and machine learning methods on medical data. My main focus is to apply these algorithms on gene expression data of cancer patients,” Gupta said. “The aim of this is to use machine learning for better diagnostic and also prognosis of diseases and maybe come up with better treatment of such life-threatening illnesses.”

Gupta said his presentation at NCRC was focused on replicating tests on methods currently used in this field.

“We provided a test that could determine the probability of a procedure being successful in the real world, based on the results from a preliminary study. This would allow researchers to make more robust and accurate procedures,” he said.

As an undergraduate student, Gupta said he learned early on that Ohio State is well-known for its strong focus on research.

“I am happy to say that studying ECE at Ohio State made me want go on the path of research, and it is the reason why I am planning to go to graduate school after graduation. I want to continue doing research that allows me to work in the field of medicine,” Gupta said. “Our ECE department is extremely reputed throughout the world, thanks to the extraordinary work of our great professors and students. I got interested in conducting research as soon as I entered ECE and I have learned a great deal since then. It made me realize the issues faced in the medical community and the potential of interdisciplinary research to overcome these challenges.”