Rice teams vie for bioscience supremacy in STAT Madness

Motorized molecules activated by light to kill cancer cells.

Vote for two Rice entries in first round of NCAA-style bracket starting today

Rice University scientists and engineers have two entries in this year’s STAT Madness, an NCAA-style, single-elimination bracket to choose the past year’s best university-based bioscience project.

Motorized molecules to kill cancer cells developed in the lab of chemist James Tour and the lens-less FlatScope invented by engineers Ashok Veeraraghavan, Jacob Robinson and Richard Baraniuk and their labs are among 64 entries this year.

The lens-less FlatScope for fluorescent 3-D microscopy. Photo by Jeff Fitlow

Voting in round 1 begins Feb. 26 and ends at midnight March 1, here: https://www.statnews.com/feature/stat-madness/bracket/.

STAT, an online publication associated with the Boston Globe focused on health and medicine, began the competition last year to celebrate biomedical science and remind readers that “tackling disease starts with small advances, often supported with federal funding,” according to a preview of this year’s event.

Two winners will be chosen: a “fan favorite” based on votes by the public, and an editor’s pick chosen by STAT journalists.

The University of Pittsburgh won last year’s inaugural competition with implantable electrodes for people with spinal cord injuries that help them feel “pressure” associated with touch.