INNOVATION
Student Innovators: Prajakta Kulkarni and Matthew Confeld
Published June 2016
NDSU graduate student Prajakta Kulkarni and undergraduate Matthew Confeld won first place in the Services category at this year’s Innovation Challenge.
The competition is open to all NDSU undergraduate and graduate students and features four categories: agriculture, products, services or social impact. Students are empowered to think, create and present their innovative ideas.
Program: Pharmaceutical sciences
Hometown:
Kulkarni – Pune, India
Confeld – Winsted, Minnesota
The project: Opti-M3D is a 3-D printed cell culture apparatus to help screen chemotherapeutic agents on tumor cells for cancer patients.
Effect on society: “We want to give every cancer patient the opportunity to receive the best available and most effective medication for their specific type of cancer without unnecessary side effects or costs,” Confeld said.
Next steps: “We hope to develop a working prototype and test it using pancreatic cancer cell lines,” Confeld said. “NDSU also has connected us with many people who can help us pursue a patent for our project.”
