Duke engineers are expanding access to cancer by redesigning diagnostic and treatment technologies for clinics with limited equipment, specialists, and pathology services. Their work includes a portable cervical imaging device deployed across 11 countries, part of a broader effort against a disease that remains the leading cause of cancer death for women in more than two dozen countries worldwide.
The Pocket Colposcope is a low-cost, portable device that brings cervical cancer screening to women in places where traditional equipment is out of reach.
Developed by Nimmi Ramanujam, the Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and partners at the Duke School of Medicine, the technology pairs portable imaging with artificial intelligence and digital health tools. It supports earlier detection, consistent quality control, and screening in low-resource and rural settings.
Cancer research is research that will touch every single one of our lives. Duke Engineering’s historic strengths in emerging bioimaging technologies and uncommon literal closeness to world-class physicians provides a unique recipe for finding and treating cancer earlier than ever before.
These faculty are developing new technologies and therapies to detect tumors, target cancer cells and harness the immune system to fight disease. See how this engineering-driven approach is shaping cancer research across Duke BME.
By developing localized immunotherapies to activate the body’s immune system against breast tumors, Ramanujam aims to treat breast cancer earlier, reduce recurrence, and make treatment more accessible and less invasive.
Chilkoti and his team create biomaterials capable of delivering cancer therapies directly to tumors, including injectable radioactive implants designed to precisely target pancreatic cancer.
Using a combination of spatial imaging, biomaterials and computational tools, John Hickey engineers T cells that can better infiltrate and attack solid tumors.
Nikiforov studies how altered metabolism and cellular processes help cancer survive, identifying vulnerabilities that could lead to new treatments for multiple myeloma and melanoma.
Using photoacoustic imaging, Yao develops light-and-sound technologies to visualize tumors, monitor their biology and guide targeted cancer therapies in real time.
Duke BME Design Fellows is a three-semester program enabling undergraduate students to design and test medical instruments based on needs identified by Duke Health clinicians.
Duke Cancer Institute is a collaborative powerhouse—audacious, evolving, unconventional—at the center of a world-renowned university and medical center. We unleash the power of synchronous collaboration to create breakthroughs that rapidly transform the unimagined into the possible—to fuel a pace of discoveries and advances previously thought impossible.
How do engineers work with clinicians and medical doctors to solve some of the most difficult problems facing medicine and healthcare today? The health issues around the globe that countless people experience cannot be solved by medical experts alone. Hear from four experts in environmental engineering, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering on the advances in science and engineering happening today.
What does it mean to serve a nation when our ideals often outpace our reality? Join Kenan Institute for Ethics and host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with General Charles […]
Oct 15 7:00 pm
Oct 15
Attend drop-in hours for quick advice and feedback that lasts 10-15 minutes. Career Drop-In Hours take place Tuesday-Friday while classes are in session.
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Oct 15
Start planning your Duke study away experience at this year’s Global Education Fair! Drop in and speak with GEO staff, Duke faculty, and study away partners to learn more about […]
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Oct 15
What does it mean to serve a nation when our ideals often outpace our reality? Join Kenan Institute for Ethics and host Adriane Lentz-Smith for a conversation with General Charles […]
7:00 pm
