Sonkusale attends Nasdaq closing bell ceremony

On January 2, 2025, Professor Sameer Sonkusale of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering attended the first Nasdaq closing bell ceremony of the year with Daré Bioscience, Inc. and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The two organizations are leaders in innovation for the health and well-being of women. Nasdaq chose Daré and ARPA-H for the first closing bell of the year to highlight the importance of investing in women’s health research. Market opening and closing ceremonies take place on weekdays at the Nasdaq MarketSite Studio in Times Square, New York and are broadcast around the globe.

ARPA-H invited Sonkusale to the ceremony in recognition of his contributions to women’s health research through the ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health. The initiative awarded funding to researchers across higher education, nonprofits, and the private sector to advance women’s health research. Sonkusale attended the ceremony along with fellow participating members in the sprint. “We’re grateful to be able to share the message that we want to dare to invest in women’s health,” said the Director of ARPA-H Renee Wegrzyn at the Nasdaq ceremony.

From over 1,700 submissions, Sonkusale’s project was one of 23 selected to be part of the federally funded effort. The sprint invested $113 million in six critical topics in women’s health including cancer, ovarian health, gynecological and endometriosis care, obstetrics, menopause, lymphatics, pain management and neurological and cardiovascular conditions. In his project, Sonkusale developed non-invasive wearable sensors that can measure biomarkers related to chronic pain, which disproportionately affects women.  

Sonkusale’s research in women’s health extends beyond the sprint. In 2024, he received a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) Women’s Health Innovation Grant to create wearable technology that could detect biophysical and biochemical markers of stress for women. The technology would be embedded into clothes and the collected data would connect to a smartphone app for unobtrusive monitoring throughout the day.

Sonkusale first joined Tufts in 2004. At Sonkusale Research Labs (SRL), he leads a research team that designs and develops devices including miniaturized nano-enabled sensors for human health and the environment; biomedical devices such as smart bandages, ingestible sampling pills, and lab-at-home diagnostics; low power circuits that can compute at a fraction of a volt; and lab on a chip microsystems for life sciences and medicine.