Turkish students win honors for health and accessibility tech

Turkish university students have achieved significant recognition for developing innovative technological solutions in health and accessibility.

At Fırat University, the NefSense project, led by student Eren Akdeniz under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Canan Aksu Canbay, has received the Excellence Seal from the TÜBİTAK BiGG Investment Program. The project aims to develop a portable electrochemical biosensor that measures compounds like acetone and isoprene in human breath. This technology is intended to assist in the early screening and clinical risk assessment of lung cancer.

Separately, students Efil Saylam and Emre Kıran from Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University won first place in the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship category at TEKNOFEST 2026. Their project, developed under the Echo2Code team, features an AI-supported hardware kit designed for hearing-impaired drivers. The device listens for critical environmental sounds, such as ambulance sirens, horns, and pedestrian noises, and converts them into visual alerts on a screen to improve road safety.