More than 30 faculty from Texas A&M University and Houston Methodist came together for the Engineering Medicine Research (EMR) Summit, a collaborative event launched by Texas A&M School of Engineering Medicine (EnMed) to spark new ideas at the intersection of medicine and engineering.
Attendees shared insights, explored emerging research directions, and discussed potential collaborations focused on improving human health.
“The goal of the EMR summit was to spark collaborations that can lead to real-world change,” said Dr. Tanmay Lele, senior associate dean of engineering and research. “By bringing together the expertise of physicians, scientists, and engineers from Texas A&M and Houston Methodist, we’re creating a pipeline for transformative research that can directly improve human health.”
Faculty presentations were organized around four major themes—cardiovascular health, neurology, cancer, and infectious diseases — and highlighted a range of current research efforts. Topics included vascular aging, microfluidic tools for early cancer detection, AI applications in brain imaging, and novel strategies for treating infectious diseases.
One presentation by Dr. Keith Syson Chan, a Houston Methodist faculty member, offered a glimpse into how cancer research can benefit from an engineering lens. He shared insights from his work using spatial and single-cell transcriptomics to study the tumor microenvironment—research that could help explain how tumors grow, evade the immune system, and resist treatment. His work reflects the broader promise of combining engineering and medicine to enable more personalized approaches to care.
A key feature of the summit was the opportunity for seed funding to support early-stage, joint research efforts. Five collaborative proposals were selected for support, including work focused on improving brain imaging, developing
new therapeutic strategies for cancer and neurological diseases, and creating tools that integrate artificial intelligence to enhance diagnosis and treatment. These projects reflect the strengths of both institutions and the potential of engineering-medicine partnerships to advance human health. The EMR Summit laid the foundation for future innovations by connecting experts across disciplines and fostering a shared vision for translational impact.
