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Blanca Lapizco-Encinas

RIT researcher Blanca Lapizco-Encinas found new ways to identify those mutations faster. Resurrecting an older theoretical technique that can be used for analyzing pathogens that cause disease, her work could improve how clinicians develop more effective treatments.

As an expert in microfluidic devices—tiny labs able to decipher bioparticles—Blanca Lapizco-Encinas and her research partners uncovered a mystery in how these particles can be better differentiated. As she has moved her own research forward, she is influencing a new generation of scientists to do the same.

Blanca Lapizco-Encinas, a professor in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, recently received a National Science Foundation grant for $348,000 to develop a new separation technique to be used in microfluidic devices. 

Ke Du and Blanca Lapizco-Encinas, both faculty-researchers in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, worked with an international team to collaborate on the design of a next-generation miniature lab device that uses magnetic nano-beads to isolate minute bacterial particles that cause diseases. This new technology improves how clinicians isolate drug-resistant strains of bacterial infections and difficult-to-detect micro-particles such as those making up Ebola and coronaviruses.

Blanca Lapizco-Encinas, professor of biomedical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering, was named a Fellow in the inaugural cohort of the I Aspire Leadership Academy. This leadership program aims to help STEM faculty from underrepresented backgrounds attain leadership roles at colleges and universities.