Dr. Richa Pandey
Positions
Assistant Professor
Schulich School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Full Member
Hotchkiss Brain Institute
Principle Investigator
Wearable and Bio-integrated Technologies Lab
UCalgary Research Excellence Chair
Wearable and Bio-integrated Technologies Lab
Contact information
Location
Office: CCIT118
For media enquiries, contact
Joe McFarland
Media Relations and Communications Specialist
Cell: +1.403.671.2710
Email: Joe.Mcfarland@ucalgary.ca
Preferred method of communication
For graduate supervision, collaboration, and industry partnership, please send an email.
Background
Educational Background
Ph.D. Physical Electronics, Tel Aviv University, 2018
Biography
Dr. Pandey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Calgary, where she primarily teaches and conducts biomedical research. She is also the director of the Wearable and Point-of-Care Technologies Lab, which houses federally funded instruments and highly skilled personnel to develop cutting-edge medical devices. Dr. Pandey is the UCalgary Research Excellence Chair, and she plays a leadership role in advancing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of biology, engineering, and digital health.
As a researcher and educator in biomedical engineering, Dr. Pandey’s work focuses on developing innovative, accessible healthcare solutions while also shaping the next generation of engineers and scientists. Her research is dedicated to designing medical technologies that enhance healthcare access, particularly in the area of women’s health. This includes developing wearable devices, rapid diagnostic tools, and screening technologies that address significant health challenges such as perinatal depression, preeclampsia, cervical cancer, and malaria in pregnancy. By integrating technology with real-world healthcare needs, Dr. Pandey’s goal is to develop solutions that are both effective and user-friendly, particularly in low-resource settings.
In addition to research, Dr. Pandey is passionate about education and mentorship. As an educator, she guides students in applying engineering principles to medical challenges, helping them build critical thinking and problem-solving skills. She also emphasizes hands-on learning, encouraging students to design and test their biomedical solutions. Dr. Pandey’s lab houses federally and provincially funded students and postdoctoral fellows whom she mentors for their graduate studies and research training. Beyond the classroom, she participates in outreach initiatives that inspire young minds, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to pursue careers in engineering fields.
Collaboration is a key part of Dr. Pandey’s work. She partners with clinicians, industry experts, and global health organizations to ensure that her research translates into practical, impactful solutions. By combining research, teaching, and mentorship, Dr. Pandey strives to advance biomedical engineering in ways that make healthcare more inclusive, affordable, and effective for all.
Research
Areas of Research
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Courses
| Course number | Course title | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| BMEN 388 | Signals, Systems and Instrumentation I | Winter 2022,23,25 |
| BMEN 585 | Guest Lecture: Point of Care Diagnostics: Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Engineering | Winter 2022 |
| BMEN 600 | Biomedical Engineering Foundations | Fall 2022,23 |
| BMEN 468 | Engineering Design for Biomedical Engineering | Fall 2023 |
| BMEN 619.83 | Integrated Biosensing and Diagnostics | Winter 2025 |
Projects
Wearable biosensors are compact, flexible, and body-adaptive devices designed to non-invasively track physiological and biochemical signals in real time. These sensors are seamlessly integrated into materials such as skin patches, textiles, or wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches), enabling continuous monitoring of biomarkers such as sweat metabolites, vital signs, hormones, and more. At the WeBiT Lab, we design and develop next-generation wearable systems that are: Comfortable, stretchable, and biocompatible Powered by energy-efficient, wireless data transmission Capable of detecting early signs of disease or physiological stress Our goal is to empower individuals and healthcare providers with personalized, actionable data—anytime, anywhere.
Point-of-care technologies enable diagnostic testing at or near the site of patient care, eliminating the need for centralized laboratories and long wait times. These portable, easy-to-use systems are essential for managing infectious diseases, chronic conditions, and acute care in both urban and remote settings. In the WeBiT Lab, we engineer robust PoC platforms that: Detect nucleic acids, proteins, or pathogens with high specificity Integrate with microfluidic systems for sample handling and analysis Offer agent-agnostic, multiplexed capabilities for broader disease coverage Operate with minimal training, power, and reagents Our PoC solutions aim to bridge health inequities, particularly for underserved communities, global health crises, and emergency settings.
Bioreceptors are biological molecules or engineered elements that specifically bind to a target analyte (e.g., DNA, RNA, proteins, pathogens). They are the key recognition components in both wearable sensors and point-of-care devices, dictating their sensitivity, selectivity, and reliability. Our bioreceptor discovery program focuses on: Identifying and engineering novel nucleic acid-based receptors (e.g., aptamers, CRISPR-Cas systems) Developing synthetic enzymes tailored for field-deployable detection Integrating bioreceptors with nanomaterials and transducers for enhanced signal transduction Validating performance across clinical and environmental sample types We design bioreceptors that work in complex sample matrices and support broad, cross-platform applications.
Awards
- Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship , Marie Sklodowska Curie Association.
- Excellence Award , Marian Gertner Institute for Medical Nanosystems.
- Food Security Fellowship , Manna Center for Food Safety and Security.
More Information
Certainly, Dr. Pandey is keenly interested in helping students commercialize their research. At Schulich, she has established WeBiT, the Wearable and Bio-Integrated Technologies Laboratory with a vision to create disruptive technologies to engineer health solutions by using a multidisciplinary and translational approach. She invites students to join her in discovering new bio-integrated electronic systems that have the unique ability to interact with their environment and gather a wealth of molecular and biochemical data. Fundamentally, her research involves high-performance material development, device engineering, and biomolecule-electronics integration. The new technologies created during the research are leveraged to solve real-world problems of disease diagnosis and management (point of care diagnostics), military (biohazard and off-field personnel health monitoring), environment (water, soil, and air quality testing), personal care (wearables for mental health), and tissue engineering (Ex-vivo disease modeling, therapy development). In short, the technology Dr. Pandey develops can be used at every stage of a patient’s clinical process, from diagnosis through treatment. Dr. Pandey's lab is based at the Department of Biomedical Engineering- an interdisciplinary collection of faculties, engaged in advancing the quality of life of people at the University of Calgary. Please visit the lab's website for more information on projects.
- Pandey, R., Chan, D., Hoare,T., Li, Y-F., Soleymani, L. (2021) Integrating programmable DNAzymes with electrical readout for rapid and culture-free bacterial detection using a handheld platform. Nature Chemistry. IF- 21.6. Featured in Daily News UK, and Eureka Alert (AAAS).
- Pandey,R.,* Zhang,Z.,* Li, J.,* et.al., (2021) High affinity dimeric aptamers enable rapid electrochemical detection of wild-type and b.1.1.7 sars-cov-2 in unprocessed saliva. Angewandte Chemie (In press). IF- 12.9 *co-first authors
- Jangid. K., Sahu. R.P., Pandey. R., Chen. R., Zhitomirsky.I.,Puri. I.K. (2021) Multiwalled carbon nanotubes coated with nitrogen–sulfur co-doped activated carbon for detecting fenitrothion. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 4 (5), 4781–4789.
- Saha. S., Allelein. S., Pandey. R., Medina-Perez. P., Kuhlmeier, D., Soleymani. L. (2021) Reverse concentration-to-signal electrochemical assay: a method for analyzing cancer-related microRNA embedded in extracellular vesicles. ACS Sensors (In press). IF- 7.1.
- Pandey.R.,* Lu,Y.,* Osman.E., Zhang,Z.,Smieja,M., Li, Y-F., Soleymani, L., Hoare,T. (2021). Rapid, culture free and wash free electrochemical quantification of the bacteria using magnetic microgel beads. Angewandte Chemie (Submitted), IF- 10.7 *co-first authors
- Victorious, A., Saha, S., Pandey, R, Soleymani, L. (2020). Enhancing the sensitivity of photoelectrochemical DNA biosensing using plasmonic DNA barcodes and differential signal readout. Angewandte Chemie. 60 (13), 7316-7322. IF- 12.9
- Traynor, S. M., Wang, G. A., Pandey, R., Li, F., & Soleymani, L. (2020). Dynamic bio‐barcode assay enables electrochemical detection of a cancer biomarker in undiluted human plasma: a sample‐in‐answer‐out approach. Angewandte Chemie. 59(50), 22617-22622. IF- 12.9, Featured in Advanced Science News and Diagnostic World News.
- Saha, S., Victorious, A., Pandey, R., Clifford, A., Zhitomirsky, I., & Soleymani, L. (2020). Differential photoelectrochemical biosensing using dna nanospacers to modulate electron transfer between metal and semiconductor nanoparticles. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(33), 36895-36905. IF- 8.7
- Hosseini, A., Pandey, R., Osman, E., Victorious, A., Li, F., Didar, T., & Soleymani, L. (2020). Roadmap to the bioanalytical testing of covid-19: from sample collection to disease surveillance. ACS sensors. 5(11), 3328–3345. IF- 6.9
- Traynor, S. M., Pandey, R., Maclachlan, R., Hosseini, A., Didar, T. F., Li, F., & Soleymani, L. (2020). Recent advances in electrochemical detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in clinically-relevant samples. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 167(3), 037551. IF- 3.7
- Sakib, S., Pandey, R., Soleymani, L., & Zhitomirsky, I. (2020). Surface modification of TiO2 for photoelectrochemical DNA biosensors. Medical Devices & Sensors, 3(2), e10066.
- Pandey, R.*, Yadav, A.,* Liao, T. W., Zharinov, V. S., Hu, K. J., Vernieres, J., ... & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2020). A platinum–nickel bimetallic nanocluster ensemble-on-polyaniline nanofilm for enhanced electrocatalytic oxidation of dopamine. Nanoscale, 12(10), 6047-6056. IF- 6.9 *co-first authors
- Pandey, R.,* Victorious, A.,* Saha, S.,* Didar, T., & Soleymani, L. (2019). Affinity-based detection of biomolecules using photo-electrochemical readout. Frontiers in chemistry, 7, 617. IF- 3.9 *co-first authors
- Pandey, R., Teig-Sussholz, O., Schuster, S., Avni, A., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2018). Integrated electrochemical Chip-on-Plant functional sensor for monitoring gene expression under stress. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 117, 493-500. IF- 10.7
- Pandey, R., Friedberg, S., Beggiato, M., Sverdlov, Y., Lishnevsky, K., Demarchi, D., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2018). Highly conductive copper film on inkjet-printed porous silver seed for flexible electronics. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 165(5), D236. IF- 3.7
- Fiaschi, G., Cosentino, S., Pandey, R., Mirabella, S., Strano, V., Maiolo, L., ... & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2018). A novel gas-phase mono and bimetallic clusters decorated Zno nanorods electrochemical sensor for 4-aminophenol detection. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 811, 89-95. IF- 3.2
- Pandey, R., Jian, N., Inberg, A., Palmer, R. E., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2017). Copper metallization of gold nanostructure activated polypyrrole by electroless deposition. Electrochimica Acta, 246, 1210-1216. IF- 6.2
- Beggiato, M., Pandey, R., Sverdlov, Y., Inberg, A., Demarchi, D., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2017). Flexible electrochemical biochip array of patterned gold on silver inkjet printed polyimide. ECS Transactions, 77(11), 893.
- Pandey, R., Almog, R. O., Sverdlov, Y., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2017). Self-aligned electrochemical fabrication of gold nanoparticle decorated polypyrrole electrode for alkaline phosphatase enzyme biosensing. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 164(4), B168. IF- 3.7
- Pandey, R., Yoetz-Kopelman, T., Freeman, A., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2017). Modeling of suspended vs. immobilized whole-cell amperometric biosensors. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 238, 1248-1257. IF- 7.1
- Almog, R. O., Pandey, R., Sverdlov, Y., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2015). Gold nanoparticle metallization of flexible Conducting Polymer Electrode. ECS Transactions, 66(19), 1.
- Pandey, R., Francis, A. P., Ramaprabhu, S., & Devasena, T. (2014). Graphene based electrochemical biosensor: extending the horizon of clinical diagnostics. Graphene, 2(1), 22-27.
- Ben-Yoav H., Ragones H., Pandey R., Fiaschi G., Shacham-Diamand Y. (2020) Electrodes for Cell Sensors Interfacing. In: Thouand G. (eds) Handbook of Cell Biosensors. Springer.
- Avni, A., Pandey, R., Teig-Sussholz, O., Schuster, S., & Shacham-Diamand, Y. (2018, August). Plant Based electro-mechanical Biosensor for Functional Precision Agriculure. In: In vitro cellular & developmental biology-plant. Springer.
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