43 of the 161 Biomedical and Health Sciences projects at ISEF 2026 won a Grand Award. Here's every one, with its abstract.
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences First Award
Tumor growth in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) – the most prevalent form of lung cancer, with a 5-year survival rate below 20% – is promoted by abnormal vasculature. Importantly, the mechanisms…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences First Award
Dysregulated astrocytic Ca2+ signaling is a key driver of high-burden CNS disorders, including Alzheimer’s and stroke, yet existing neuromodulation strategies remain invasive and neuron-cent…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science First Award
Retinal degenerative diseases (RDDs) affect 300 million patients worldwide. Current imaging techniques detect RDDs in late stages after significant vision loss. Approximately 40% of Retinal…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Second Award
Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's affect millions worldwide, yet current diagnostic methods remain invasive, expensive, and largely inaccessible during the critical early intervent…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Second Award
Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), are typically diagnosed after 50-80% neuronal loss, reflecting a critical failure of early…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Second Award
Despite advances in immunotherapy, up to 60% of melanoma patients do not respond to treatment. Emerging evidence suggests that physical exercise enhances anti-tumor immunity; however, the mo…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Second Award
The lack of rapid, accessible, and precise quantitative biomarkers for lesion grading remains the primary barrier to preventing cervical cancer—a leading cause of cancer death among women wo…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Second Award
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains a clinical challenge due to its aggressive nature and the lack of targeted therapies. Traf2 and NCK-interacting kinase (TNIK), a key regulator of…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Second Award
Chemoresistance remains a primary cause of cancer treatment failure and is increasingly attributed to non-genetic regulatory mechanisms. Emerging evidence suggests that three-dimensional chr…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Second Award
Food allergy (FA) affects 18% of the population and is driven by type-2 inflammation, epithelial barrier dysfunction, and tight junction (TJ) disruption. Recent studies identify Zonulin and…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Second Award
Evolution has shaped primates to develop two key advanced traits in comparison with lower mammalian species: first higher intelligence with increased brain size and cortical complexity and s…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Second Award
Melanoma is the most fatal type of skin cancer, taking over 50,000 lives annually. While advances in checkpoint immunotherapy have decreased mortality rates, it is difficult to determine whi…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Purpose: About 7.2 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), with the number expected to to double by 2060. Currently used drugs for AD only reduce disease symptoms and mar…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Visual impairment (VI) affects 2.2 billion people worldwide, and 1 billion cases are preventable with early diagnosis. Retinal diseases are preventable causes of VI. Clinical Decision Suppor…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Third Award
Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic, immune-mediated esophageal disorder that currently requires repeated invasive endoscopic biopsies for diagnosis and disease monitoring. The absen…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Third Award
Leukemia remains a leading cause of global cancer mortality, with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) presenting the most aggressive clinical profile with frequent relapse even after treatment. Ove…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which encompasses Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, affects about 5 million people worldwide and is caused by the inflammation of the gastrointestinal…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Pressure ulcers affect 2.5+ million people annually in the U.S., contributing to 60,000+ deaths and $26+ billion in healthcare costs. Current prevention methods remain inadequate. Preventive…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Third Award
The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of three between-inning recovery methods [Active recovery (AR), passive recovery (PR), and electromuscular stimulation (EMS)] among high…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Third Award
Impaired wound healing is a widespread complication experienced by diabetic patients, with persistent hyperglycemic conditions being a central factor that disrupts cellular repair programs.…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Diagnosing drug-resistant strains Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is critical for informing treatment plans and limiting infections. However, existing diagnostics are slow and cover a narro…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the deadliest breast cancer subtypes because it lacks the receptors targeted by most therapies, leaving patients with few treatment options. Th…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Breast cancer recurrence rates reach up to 50%, yet existing clinical tools rely on single modality data or repeated medical check-ups. My model, OncoTwin, is a novel recurrence-risk predict…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Third Award
Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread pain, fatigue, and cognitive impairments. Current treatments primarily target symptoms rather than underlying pathology. Growin…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Third Award
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain cancer in adults, and patient survival still remains low. However, 83% of GBM cases have Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase promoter (TERT…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Third Award
Purpose. Osteosarcoma (OS) is an especially aggressive bone cancer disproportionately affecting children. Current treatments like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation suffer from high recurr…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with the deterioration of motor control and cognitive function as age advances. Representing the fa…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
EquiliMind is a multimodal fall-prevention system designed to address the unpredictable vertigo, imbalance, and sudden fall risk associated with Ménière’s disease. Current clinical approache…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Every 3 seconds, a new case of dementia is diagnosed worldwide, and more than 55 million people live with dementia, underscoring the need for innovative, accessible complementary strategies…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a multifactorial, neurodegenerative disease characterized by a decline in cognitive functions, is projected to double by 2060, underscoring a grow…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), a life-threatening disorder of humans and dogs, leads to spontaneous bleeding from antibody-mediated platelet destruction. Standard immunosuppressive therapies…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Lactase dietary supplements are widely used to address lactose intolerance, a condition where the small intestine produces insufficient lactase enzyme to break down lactose, the natural suga…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is associated with neurocognitive dysfunction (NeuroHIV), which can occur in 30–50% of people with HIV, despite successful combination antiretrov…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Meniscus injuries are among the most common orthopedic conditions, with approximately 1 million surgeries annually. Injuries in the avascular zone cannot self-regenerate, and modern scaffold…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Purpose: Current anti-cancer adoptive cell immunotherapies have three major hurdles: extraction and preservation of autologous cells; engineering, expansion, and activation of cells ex vivo;…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Anxiety is an ever-growing issue plaguing modern society as it becomes more prevalent in young adults and adolescents, particularly Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Despite the existence…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Microplastics have been a growing problem within the biomedical and health fields. However, mechanistic links between dietary exposure, molecular interaction, physiological impact, and mitig…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, characterized by progressive optic nerve damage often without symptoms until significant vision loss occurs.…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by causes such as amyloid plaque accumulation, microglial dysfunction, and chronic neuroinflammation. Current treatments target the e…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder affecting over 55 million people worldwide. Although early diagnosis is critical, up to 75% of dementia p…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
AI-powered breast cancer diagnostics remain inaccessible in low-resource settings due to patient privacy constraints, high hardware costs, and bandwidth limitations. This project designed an…
ISEF · 2026
Translational Medical Science Fourth Award
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive motor neuron loss and limited therapeutic options due to its complex, multifactorial pa…
ISEF · 2026
Biomedical and Health Sciences Fourth Award
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor dysfunction and neuron loss, with limited current treatments, revealing a critical gap. Heat shock…