Two Pioneering Women from University of Michigan Engineering Receive Prestigious Sony Women in Technology Award
In a groundbreaking achievement, two of the three recipients of the second-ever Sony Women in Technology Award, which honors extraordinary girls driving developments in science and expertise, hail from the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering. This distinguished award, accompanied by a $250,000 analysis grant, is designed to propel the recipients’ revolutionary endeavors, spotlighting feminine leaders who’re reworking their fields by persevering scientific inquiry and artistic breakthroughs.
Assistant Professor Xiwen Gong of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Li Ka Shing Professor Zhen Xu from the Biomedical Engineering Department signify a formidable duo whose analysis spans revolutionary applied sciences with profound medical and technological implications. Gong specializes in optoelectronics—units that generate or detect gentle—and the event of electrically conductive supplies important for next-generation wearable sensors and implantable medical units. Meanwhile, Xu is famend for pioneering histotripsy, a non-invasive most cancers remedy modality that harnesses the ability of focused sound waves to selectively obliterate tumor cells with out the opposed uncomfortable side effects generally related to chemotherapy and radiation.
Histotripsy marks a paradigm shift in oncological therapeutics. Through the exact focusing of ultrasound pulses on micro- and nanoscale gasoline pockets inside malignant tissues, mechanical cavitation happens. This phenomenon generates microbubbles which quickly develop and collapse, inducing localized mobile destruction. Beyond direct tumor ablation, thrilling proof suggests this method primes the immune system to mount an efficient systemic response, doubtlessly eliminating residual cancerous cells distant from the preliminary website of remedy. Xu’s devoted analysis is pushing histotripsy in the direction of broader medical functions, notably extending to most cancers varieties beforehand untreatable with standard strategies and even vascular-related problems like blood clots contributing to stroke and cardiovascular pathologies.
The genesis of histotripsy emerged serendipitously throughout Xu’s doctoral analysis in 2002. While investigating therapies for congenital coronary heart illness in porcine coronary heart fashions, she encountered a technical problem: ultrasound pulses created acoustic noise insupportable to laboratory colleagues. Innovatively, Xu engineered ultrasound bursts at a frequency of 20 kilohertz—past the vary of typical human listening to—producing potent microsecond pulses. These pulses unexpectedly drilled microscopic perforations in cardiac tissues, triggering a decade-long pursuit to decode and harness this impact. Despite preliminary skepticism from friends who deemed histotripsy unfeasible, Xu’s persistence finally remodeled this discovery right into a promising medical expertise, exemplifying the ability of resilience in opposition to scientific doubt.
Complementing Xu’s biomedical marvels, Xiwen Gong has made notable strides in optoelectronic supplies science, notably extending the operational longevity of perovskite semiconductors. These supplies maintain important promise as cost-effective options to conventional silicon in photovoltaic cells, and Gong’s analysis advances may speed up the industrial viability of photo voltaic power applied sciences. Additionally, Gong has pioneered versatile light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based mostly on nanoscale semiconductor quantum dots. These ultrathin, pliable LEDs open pathways for revolutionary biomedical functions, together with wearable biosensors corresponding to pulse oximetry patches able to seamless physiological information monitoring.
A very transformative side of Gong’s work focuses on creating solid-state conductive gels tailor-made for neurostimulation functions. Current transcranial electrical stimulation therapies, explored for assuaging signs in neurodegenerative problems like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s illness, depend on liquid conductive media that should be manually utilized in medical settings. These gels are usually messy, depart residues, and require cumbersome meeting, limiting their usability in dwelling environments. Gong’s answer—a stable gel with adhesive but delicate consistency—can penetrate by hair, conform to the contours of the scalp, and ship electrical currents exactly the place wanted. This innovation guarantees to democratize neurostimulation remedy, making it extra accessible, user-friendly, and reasonably priced for sufferers outdoors of hospital settings.
Research into the conductive gel’s capabilities has already demonstrated its effectiveness in detecting refined physiological alerts corresponding to heartbeats, affirming its excessive constancy as a bioelectronic interface. Future medical trials are deliberate in collaboration with Benjamin Hampstead, a number one neurologist specializing in cognitive problems, to judge the gel’s therapeutic potential for Alzheimer’s sufferers. If profitable, this expertise may signify a quantum leap ahead in non-invasive mind therapies, fostering higher independence and high quality of life for hundreds of thousands affected by continual neurological ailments.
The Sony Women in Technology Award affords greater than monetary backing: it gives worldwide recognition from an business powerhouse and one of many world’s most revered scientific journals. This endorsement not solely amplifies Xu and Gong’s voices in the worldwide scientific group but in addition exemplifies the important function girls proceed to play in driving ahead the frontiers of science and engineering.
Xu’s recognition reached one other milestone just lately when she was named amongst Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Health Leaders—a testomony to her management and affect inside the medical sciences. Gong, too, garnered important distinction as a 2026 Gilbreth Lecturer, an honor bestowed by the celebrated National Academy of Engineering to honor early-career scientific excellence.
Both researchers preserve multifaceted tutorial roles. Xu holds further professorships in radiology and neurosurgery at Michigan Medicine, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of her work that bridges engineering with medical follow. Gong is affiliated with a number of departments together with supplies science and engineering, electrical and pc engineering, macromolecular science and engineering, and utilized physics, underscoring her complete experience that spans chemistry, physics, and engineering.
Their tales are highly effective narratives of perseverance, innovation, and breaking gender norms in STEM fields. Gong recollects encounters with gender stereotypes in her youth however emphasizes dedication and dedication in overcoming obstacles, underscoring the significance of fostering various, inclusive help methods that empower all aspiring scientists—no matter gender—to thrive.
Collectively, their groundbreaking work not solely advances expertise and drugs but in addition evokes the subsequent technology of ladies engineers and scientists by demonstrating that resilience, creativity, and imaginative and prescient are the bedrocks of transformative scientific progress.
Subject of Research: Innovations in optoelectronic supplies for biomedical units and non-invasive most cancers remedy by histotripsy using therapeutic ultrasound
Article Title: University of Michigan Women Engineers Lead Breakthroughs in Cancer Treatment and Neurostimulation Technology
News Publication Date: Not specified
Web References:
– https://che.engin.umich.edu/folks/gong-xiwen/
– https://bme.umich.edu/folks/xu-zhen/
– https://information.engin.umich.edu/2026/02/u-ms-zhen-xu-co-inventor-of-histotripsy-named-one-of-times-100-most-influential-health-leaders/
– https://che.engin.umich.edu/2025/12/19/xiwen-gong-selected-as-gilbreth-lecturer-for-the-armstrong-endowment-for-young-engineers/
– https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/histotripsy-stimulates-immune-system-attack-cancer-cells-outside-liver
References:
– Gong et al., “Extending the Lifetime of Perovskite Semiconductors,” Journal of the American Chemical Society, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c15955
– Gong et al., “Flexible LEDs Based on Semiconductor Nanocrystals,” Nature Photonics, DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01716-y
– Gong et al., “Wearable and Implantable Biosensors,” ACS Applied Electronic Materials, DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.2c01791
– Clinical Neurophysiology Reviews, “Noninvasive Brain Stimulation for Treatment of Neurological Disorders,” PMC6262991
Keywords: Women in science, optoelectronics, histotripsy, most cancers remedy, biomedical engineering, wearable sensors, neurostimulation, quantum dots, perovskite semiconductors, conductive supplies, medical units, ultrasound remedy
Tags: developments in implantable medical devicesbiomedical engineering breakthroughselectrically conductive supplies researchfemale pioneers in supplies sciencehistotripsy ultrasound most cancers therapyinnovative most cancers therapeutics researchnon-invasive most cancers remedy technologiesoptoelectronics for wearable sensorsSony Women in Technology Award winnersUniversity of Michigan engineering achievementswomen engineers in medical innovationwomen leaders in science and expertise