Faculty & Staff

Dr. Anna Pyayt

Anna Pyayt

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING

Phone: 813-974-6250

Email: pyayt@usf.edu

Office: IDRB 202E

Research Webpage

Research cluster: Biotechnology

Education & Training

CIFellow and Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Dual PhD, Electrical Engineering and Nanotechnology, University of Washington

MSc, Electrical Enginering, University of Washington

Honors & Awards

  • Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical included our publication “Design of an optofluidic sensor for rapid detection of hemolysis” to be featured in their edition of Research Insights which appears both online and in nationally syndicated publications (2019)
  • Elsevier chose a paper about Mobile ELISA among thousands of papers for international news coverage (2018)
  • Invited to exhibit Hemolix technology at Cade museum (2018)
  • Award from the ADVANCE Florida Network Women in STEM Scholars (AFN-WISE) (2018)
  • Research was featured on Science Updates (AAAS radio) (2017)
  • Invited Technology Showcase Participant in the US Congress (2017)
  • Invited Showcase Participant in the National Academy of Sciences Convocation on “Revitalizing the University-Industry-Government Partnership" (2017)
  • Invited Participant in the APLU/AAU University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Showcase (2017)
  • University of South Florida Excellence in Innovation Award (2017)
  • Inducted to the National Academy of Inventors (2016)
  • Best paper award at IEEE Sensors conference (2016)
  • Young Investigator award from North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (NASSHP) (2015)
  • Finalist of the Vodafone Americas Foundation Annual Wireless Innovation Project (2015)
  • Sweet 16 in Cade Museum Competition (2015)
  • Finalist of the XPRIZE Nokia Sensing Xchallenge (2014)
  • Semi-finalist of the SPIE Challenge (2014)
  • Research highlighted in Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6171/600.full (2014)
  • Winners of the 2013 NSF/Science International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge (2014)
  • Computing Innovation Fellow, Stanford University, $270,000, 10/01/2009-9/30/2011
  • Microsoft Research Fellow (2007, 2008), US $100,000 for two years
  • Society of Women Engineers' Outstanding Female Award (2007)
  • Department of Electrical Engineering Chair’s award (2006
  • SPIE Educational Scholarship in Optical Science and Engineering four times in a row (2006, 2005, 2004, 2003), US $12,000
  • Nanotechnology UIF Graduate Research award for 2004-05 for the research titled "Novel wavelength selective switch based on new electro-optical materials and nano-fabrication technique", US $50,000
  • Electrical Engineering Young Innovator Fellowship (2003), US $50,000

 Research Overview

Dr. Pyayt’s Lab designs, develops and evaluates novel systems for biological and biomolecular sensing, manipulation and assembly. They have important applications to COVID-19 immunity monitoring, sepsis diagnosis and detection of pregnancy complications. Specific research areas include the following:

  • Sensors
  • Nanoscale endoscopy
  • Optofluidics
  • Point-of-care testing

Dynamic visualization of photothermal heating by gold nanocages using thermoresponsive elastin like polypeptides. Cover for Nanoscale. Credit: Howard Kaplan.