BME doctoral student Chukwu wins first place, People’s Choice awards at PhD-in-3D competition
Chinwendu Chukwu won the awards for presenting her research at the McDonnell International Scholars Academy competition
Chinwendu Chukwu, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, received first-place and People’s Choice awards at the McDonnell International Scholars Academy PhD-in-3D competition March 26, 2025.
Chukwu, who works in the lab of Hong Chen, professor of biomedical engineering in McKelvey Engineering and of neurosurgery at WashU Medicine, presented her research on using focused ultrasound for noninvasive drug delivery to the brain.
“The brain is protected by the blood-brain barrier, a structure that tightly regulates what can enter the brain from its external environment and blocks most therapeutic drugs from reaching the brain,” she said. “Because of this, invasive strategies are sometimes needed to bypass the blood-brain barrier and deliver drugs directly to the brain. Focused ultrasound, which emits targeted sound waves, provides an alternative noninvasive method that can remotely and temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, allowing drugs to reach the brain from the circulating blood.”
During her presentation, Chukwu compared the blood-brain barrier to a building’s access point due to its strict regulation of what can enter the brain.
“While invasive procedures can bypass this access point, they carry significant risks, similar to breaking into a highly-secured building,” she said. “Focused ultrasound offers a noninvasive way to temporarily ‘unlock’ the blood-brain barrier, enabling safe and effective delivery of therapies to the brain.”
At the competition, each scholar had to distill their research into a compelling three-minute presentation for a nonspecialist audience.
The awards were presented to scholars whose presentations showed a thorough grasp of their research areas and conveyed the broader significance of their work to the audience. Additionally, the People’s Choice Award was determined through live voting, reflecting the high level of engagement and admiration from attendees.
Chukwu earned a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering at Rutgers University in 2021, after which she joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at WashU as part of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy. In 2022, she won the “Early Stage” PhD Student award at the WashU BME PhD Retreat.
