Elizabeth “Clarke” Wilkirson, a fourth-year doctoral student in mechanical engineering (MECH) at Rice University, won first place in the flash presentation at the 2023 International Conference on Microneedles held in May in Seattle.
A flash is a rapid oral presentation. The title of Wilkirson’s related poster was “Lateral Flow-Based Skin Patch for the Rapid Detection of Protein Biomarkers in Interstitial Fluid.”
“The fluid that surrounds cells and tissues contains many biomolecules but its potential for medical diagnostic testing remains underutilized. Current procedures for acquiring the fluid are time-consuming and require specialized equipment,” said Wilkerson, who works in the lab of Peter Lillehoj, a Shankle Chair and associate professor of MECH.
With Lillehoj, Wilkirson has developed a lateral flow-based skin patch to enable detection of protein biomarkers, coupled with a microneedle-assisted technique to enable rapid sampling of dermal interstitial fluid.
“The findings demonstrated quick collection and detection – roughly 15 minutes -- in the proof-of-concept model we designed for malaria biomarker detection. We see immense potential for point-of-care testing of many different protein biomarkers,” she said.
Wilkirson earned her B.S. in MECH from the University of Alabama in 2020.