Anthony Dongchau joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher in January 2025. His research focuses on optical glucose sensing, specifically the development of competitive glucose binding assays using non-enzymatic fluorescence methods for continuous glucose monitoring. He is also involved in projects related to the detection of cardiovascular disease biomarkers. Through his work, he contributes to the development of optical biosensing.
Karina Gao
Karina Gao joined the OBSL in the spring of 2026. Her research centers on the synthesis of fluorescence nanodots with tunable emission spectra and controlled bandwidths, specifically for integration into a Concanavalin A–mannose-based FRET glucose-sensing platform. By optimizing the optical properties and surface compatibility of these nanodots, her work aims to maximize FRET efficiency and significantly enhance the sensitivity of glucose detection for diagnostic applications.
Rene Kinkade
Rene is an undergraduate biomedical engineering student planning to specialize in bioinstrumentation. Her research involves the development and testing of assays for an implantable glucose biosensor.
Richard Jennings
Richard is a Texas A&M Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student who joined Dr. Coté’s lab in June 2023. His research focuses on the signal analysis of multi-modal wearable devices that are aimed at monitoring cardiovascular health. Additionally, he aims to improve his proficiency in Arduino, SolidWorks, soldering PCBs, and machine learning in MatLab and Python
Rohan Jain
Rohan is an undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University who joined the Optical and Bio-Sensing Laboratory in August 2024. He has been deeply involved in the design, prototyping, and testing of wearable biomedical devices aimed at monitoring cardiovascular health. His work includes wearable device design and rapid prototyping using SolidWorks, electronics assembly and soldering, device integration, and experimental testing on human subjects. Rohan also contributes to signal processing and data analysis for physiological monitoring systems developed in the lab. Through extensive hands-on experimentation and iterative design, he has played a key role in advancing wearable device form factors and validating their performance in real-world testing scenarios.
Rotem Goldman
Rotem is an undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University who joined the Optical and Bio-Sensing Laboratory in January 2026. Her work in the lab focuses on developing and fabricating EEG electrode technologies for noninvasive neural monitoring. She is involved in the design and production of electrode systems using mold casting techniques, electronics assembly, and soldering, with the goal of improving user safety, comfort, and signal reliability. Through this work, Rotem is gaining hands-on experience in wearable biomedical device development, prototyping, and experimental testing within multimodal biosensing systems.
Ryan Chako
Ryan Chacko is an undergraduate Aerospace Engineering student at Texas A&M University who joined the Optical and Bio-Sensing Laboratory in January 2026. His research focuses on developing advanced testing platforms for wearable biomedical sensing technologies. Ryan is currently working on phantom body systems designed to simulate realistic physiological conditions, including controlled fluid-driven pulsations that replicate cardiovascular signals for device validation and performance evaluation. These systems provide controlled and repeatable environments for testing wearable sensors and improving their reliability. Through his work in the lab, Ryan is developing hands-on experience in microcontroller integration, electronics assembly and PCB soldering, mechanical design using SolidWorks, and wearable device prototyping and testing. His long-term goal is to apply these engineering skills to the development of advanced life support and monitoring technologies, including Portable Life Support Systems (PLSS) for human space exploration.
Ryan Rudin
Ryan Rudin is an undergraduate biomedical engineering student at Texas A&M University who started working at the Optical Biosensing Laboratory (OBSL) in January 2026. His goal is to get more experience with hands on building, design, and development on medical devices and systems. Ryan’s past work in the Teas Heart Institute included developing and testing a flow loop system for a lung transport system. During his capstone he did UIUX design for an insulin pump database website. Ryan’s focus at the OBSL has been building, wiring, and developing the single arm phantom pump system which is used to help test and predict the function of wearable medical devices.
Samuel Idah-Oze
Samuel Idah-oze is an undergraduate researcher at the OBSL majoring in Electronic Systems Engineering and Technology. Since joining the lab in June 2022 as a Beckman Scholar, Samuel has been contributing to research on multi-modal wearable devices for cardiovascular disease monitoring. His work involves the application of various sensing technologies and techniques, including photoplethysmography, bioimpedance, and contact pressure sensing. Samuel has had the opportunity to collaborate on several projects, including the design of testing devices for pulse oximeter improvement and a force-sensing glove prototype for NASA. He is eager to continue contributing to advancements in wearable medical technology alongside talented researchers.
Sarah Buchanan
Sarah Buchanan is an undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University who joined the Optical and Bio-Sensing Laboratory in Spring 2025. Her work focuses on the development and use of both human- and phantom-arm/finger systems for testing and validating wearable sensing technologies. She contributes to experimental data collection using wearable biomedical devices and supports the evaluation of sensor performance in controlled testing environments. Sarah also works on integrating Arduino-based sensor systems, fabricating electrodes, and designing molds and experimental components using SolidWorks. Through this work, she is developing hands-on experience in biomedical device prototyping, experimental design, and physiological data collection