AUC Students Win Public Inspiration Award in International SensUS Competition

A group of AUCians have won the Public Inspiration Award at the SensUS Competition held at the Technology University of Eindhoven in The Netherlands in early September.

Each year, hundreds of students from around the world create a biosensor to detect chemicals in the blood.

This year’s objective was to create a biosensor that measures Vancomycin, an antibiotic used to treat a number of bacterial infections.

Competing against 12 top technology universities from around the world, AUC students were the only ones selected to represent Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa.

AUC’s team was comprised of computer science student Asser Hangal, and chemistry majors Marie Tanious and Omar El Sayyed. The team was rounded out with to Manar El- Nagar, an undergraduate studying nanotechnology, together with two mechanical engineering students, Mohamed Saeed and Namir El Khouly, and electronics and communication engineering major Nabil Mikhael.

Chemistry Chair Hassan Azazzy, who served as the team’s adviser, said the students were very enthusiastic and often slept on campus as they continued their research.

“They would call me in the middle of the night, telling me security wouldn’t let them go access the campus with the equipment for the project,” said Azzazy.

Despite their zeal to complete the objective and win the competition, there were challenges which frustrated the AUC team.

“There were many mechanical problems with the device. Even when we were there (in the competition itself) we had problems with the machine,” said team member Saeed.

But Azzazy said that the AUCians managed to turn the difficulties to their advantage in putting together a unique piece of machinery.

Eight universities used the same techniques and very similar strategies to build their sensor devices. But the AUC team, frustrated by the lack of high-tech material, used a completely different approach which resulted in a unique device that impressed the judges.

Azzazy says that the team’s composition contributed to their success – he wanted a group of passionate friends to work on their project and avoid any group complexities.

El Sayyed told The Caravan that having a multidisciplinary team also paid off.

The chemistry majors worked on detecting and measuring the chemical in the blood while the engineering major
planned the manufacture of the device. The computer science majors were tasked with programming it.

“This was my greatest experiences with-in my undergraduate program here at AUC,” El Sayyed added.