Ph.D. students Arpita Das and John Bannan won the Best Idea at the IEEE Sensors 2024 WiSe-YP Big Idea Pitch Competition held in Kobe, Japan for their project idea “Smartphone Sensor Scanning System for Characterizing Tumorous Breast Cancer”. 

Their project idea involves the use of a smartphone app and phone camera to be used as a tool in pre-screening for suspected tumors noticed by patients during self-examinations. The idea also includes the consideration of additional patient information, for example, past cancer history, past biopsy history, and/or family history to determine total breast cancer risk in the app. 

Built out by a previous lab member, the app utilizes the smartphone camera to detect a potential tumor through the sensing tip made from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone polymer. Pressing the camera against the skin, the camera captures tactile images. As tumors are firmer than normal tissue, the algorithm in the app analyzes those tactile images and works to detect a pattern, which can then indicate if a potential tumor is present.  

Das and Bannan intend for the app to be used as a pre-screening method for patients who may have limited access to medical intervention. The idea came to Das after she had a personal experience dealing with lengthy lead times for a clinical interaction with a physician. While her own medical issue turned out to be a false alarm, it caused her to think about how the process could be improved to ease patient anxiety or provide patients with instant information to understand how urgent their medical issue may be. “That made me think that maybe there should be a pre-screening device for users so there is immediate assistance to determine if we should really rush to the hospital, or for people who don’t have a hospital nearby,” Das explains. 

The goal behind the app is not to replace clinical interactions, MRI, or other intervention with a medical professional, but to supplement the process and allow patients to go into their appointments with a better understanding of how serious their situation may be. 

Already attending and presenting separate research papers at the IEEE Sensors Conference 2024, the duo submitted their idea for the competition at the urging of their advisor, Chang-Hee Won, a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, who thought the presentation experience would be beneficial regardless of the result. Bannan and Das took winning the competition for the Best Idea as a bonus to an already valuable endeavor. 

“We did this for the experience, and we did our best, and since it’s an international conference, there’s a lot of competition, so winning was very exciting,” shares Bannan. After learning from the conference experience, Das and Bannan are now working towards a journal submission. 

Still in the beginning stages of their project, Das and Bannan hope to continue to build upon the app while determining their separate Ph.D. theses, both in the tactile sensing systems research area.